Twelve athletes, former athletes and coaches have been based at the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Aigle, Switzerland, for the last three weeks to take their coaching skills to the next level.
Among those on the UCI Level 3 (Diploma) course was Argentina’s Eduardo Sepúlveda, returning to the UCI WCC 14 years after his season riding in the centre’s colours as a trainee athlete.
Since that introduction to European training and racing in 2012, he has enjoyed a career with different UCI ProTeams and UCI WorldTeams. After riding for UCI ProTeam Lotto (formerly Lotto Dstny) from 2023 to 2025 he has joined UCI Continental Team Li Ning Star for 2026 and has finally managed to complete the course that has been on his bucket list for several years.
“I’ve always wanted to do this course,” says Sepúlveda, who already works with athletes at national level in his country. “But when you’re in a professional team there are a lot of training camps and races. I couldn’t come here [to Aigle] for three weeks.”
For the Argentinean, the UCI WCC Coaching Diploma is now mission accomplished. With the backing of his team, he delayed the start of his season and took a step towards assuring his post-career profession as a coach.
Bringing back memories of early career
Although he has returned to the region of the UCI WCC several times when racing the Tour de Romandie, this is the first time Sepúlveda has made more than a fleeting visit to Aigle since 2012. It was with a true sense of déjà vu that he returned to the centre that was his training base when he was on the brink of his career.
“When I entered the velodrome last month, the smell brought me back to 2012. I have very good memories of that time. I came straight from Argentina so everything was new. I learnt so much, and thanks to my time here I stepped up to become professional.”
The last three weeks have been another steep learning curve for the now-experienced athlete.
“It [the Diploma course] covers so many things… physiology, mental coaching, nutrition, and altitude training – including adaptation and recovery -, for example. If I had had all this knowledge when I was a neo pro, I would have been a much better rider!”
Coaching methods and equipment have evolved over the years, but the biggest revelation for Sepúlveda has been insight when it comes to nutrition. “I didn’t have that knowledge when I was younger. Riders can get certain information from the internet and social media, but it’s good to learn the theory behind the good practices. That will definitely be useful for my future coaching career.”
More to training than just riding a bike
A career, assures Sepúlveda, that is still important despite the increase in online coaching applications and platforms.
“Training is not just what you do on the bike. You can be under stress from other things in your day, that a coach can take into account. There are also the technical aspects: IA can tell you to do 3 x 10 mins, but as a coach you can see and improve the rider’s technique, for example. There are many things that can affect the final result. And that sort of advice can’t be replaced.”
The 12 people on the latest Coaching Diploma course come from 10 countries and include two other former UCI WCC trainee athletes: Venezuelan BMX Racing specialist Stefany Hernández (2015 UCI World Champion and 2016 Olympic bronze medallist) and road cyclist Dziyana Lebedz (BLR), who was a member of the UCI Women’s Continental Team, WCC Team, from 2022 to 2025.
The UCI WCC Coach Development Programme provides a choice of courses – across four different levels – enabling coaches to study and practice all aspects of coaching under the guidance of the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) team and external experts. The programme is designed to increase levels of knowledge and expertise in all areas of coaching across different cycling disciplines.
Details are available on the UCI website.