The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the City of Athens are pleased to announce the confirmed speakers and programme highlights for the 2026 UCI Mobility & Bike City Forum, which will take place in Athens (Greece) on 10-11 May 2026.
Organised in collaboration with Kyvernitis Travel Group, this year’s edition will be held at the Athens Conservatoire. International experts, city leaders, academics, and event organisers will come together to explore how cycling can advance tourism development, sustainable urban mobility, city-level transformation, international event legacy and road safety.
The Forum will open with welcome addresses from the UCI President David Lappartient, the Mayor of the City of Athens Haris Doukas, and the President of the Hellenic Cycling Federation Vasilios Diamantopoulos. An inspiring keynote address will follow, with the speaker soon to be announced.
The day will continue with a session on emerging trends in cycling tourism, featuring perspectives from leading figures including Laurianne Krid, CEO of the European Cyclists’ Federation, Pinar Pinzuti, founder of the Fiera del Cicloturismo/Cycle Tourism Show in Italy, Spiros Papageorgiou, founder of the Greek Cities for Cycling NGO, and George Nanos, co-owner and Head Project Manager of the Greek mountain bike touring company Outline Adventures. Together, they will highlight how destinations are successfully embracing cycling to attract visitors.
The UCI will then celebrate the Rwandan capital of Kigali, the latest city to be awarded the UCI Bike City label.This will be followed by a presentation from Rwanda Cycling Federation President Samson Ndayishimiye about Kigali’s cycling transformation thanks to hosting the 2025 UCI Road World Championships. The second panel discussion will examine how cities are reshaping street networks and mobility systems to grow cycling, with insights from Francesco Iacorossi, Project Coordinator at Eurocities, Clotilde Imbert, CEO of Copenhagenize, and Stathis Psyrropoulos, Mayor of Ilioupoli, who will share on‑the‑ground experiences from across Europe.
In the afternoon, the Chief Operations Officer of the ΔΕΗ Tour of Hellas, Takis Xouris, will explain how Greece’s national stage race is building cycling culture and public enthusiasm. This will lead into a discussion on cycling events as drivers of sustainable sport tourism and local impact, with contributions from Eelco Franckaert, Project Team member for the 2026 Rabobank UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Hulst (Netherlands), Samara Sheppard, UCI Bike City Coordinator at Destination Wollongong (Australia) and Finland’s Antti Laiho, Marketing Consultant and Ambassador for Visit Lahti - each illustrating approaches developed through events across a range of cycling disciplines.
The final thematic session of the day will focus on global road safety, featuring leading voices including Claudia Adriazola-Steil, Global Health & Road Safety Program Director and Deputy Global Urban Mobility Director at the World Resources Institute, Filippo Veglio, Head of Social & Environmental Sustainability at UEFA, Vassilis Orfanos, a Greek motorcycling pioneer and road safety instructor at Vassilis Orfanos Motorsports, and Dr Apostolos Ziakopoulos, a civil engineer, PhD and Research Associate at the National Technical University of Athens. Their combined expertise - from international policy to elite sport to research - will underscore the importance of collaborative strategies for safer cycling environments. The Forum will conclude with the announcement of the host city of the 2027 UCI Mobility and Bike City Forum.
Further speaker updates, including confirmation of the keynote address, will be revealed in the coming weeks.
Ahead of the main conference day, delegates are also invited, on Sunday 10 May, to participate in a series of interactive activities organised at sites across Athens, including a community ride on the ΔΕΗ Tour of Hellas race circuit, a bike tour of historical city locations and the opportunity for participants to witness the finish of the ΔΕΗ Tour of Hellas in the city centre. The winners of the 2026 UCI Cycling for All & Sustainability Awards will be revealed during the official dinner that evening.
The updated programme can be accessed here.
Registrations for the 2026 UCI Mobility & Bike City Forum are still open. Delegates are invited to secure their place by completing the online registration form.
For more information on the UCI’s Cycling for All programme, please visit the UCI website. For any questions regarding the Forum, please contact the UCI at [email protected].