The Management Committee of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), which met in Arzon (France) from June 19 to 21, has approved the UCI Women’s WorldTour calendar for the next season.
As in 2018, the next edition will comprise 23 events in ten countries and on three continents. The battle for the leader’s jersey of the individual ranking and that of the best young rider of the UCI Women’s WorldTour will begin on March 9 at the Strade Bianche, in Italy, and conclude on October 20 with the Tour of Guangxi Women’s WorldTour, in China. The 2019 UCI Women’s WorldTour calendar will comprise 52 days of racing next year.
The UCI is very pleased with the calendar which has no overlapping of events, therefore ensuring all races will have the best possible team participation.
Moreover, the Madrid Challenge by la Vuelta confirms its changed format after becoming a two-day race in 2018. The event will take place on September 14 and 15, with a team time trial the day before the traditional road race.
Since its creation in 2016, the UCI Women’s WorldTour has seen its audiovisual coverage develop at a very high rate. The number of television viewers for the series grew from over 80 million for the 2016 season to 124 million in 2017 (+55%). The number of broadcast hours has more than doubled to reach 650 hours, compared with 310 hours the year before. The audience perspectives for the 2018 season are encouraging as 15 of the 23 races are broadcast live, compared with 11 in 2016.
The President of the UCI, David Lappartient, said: “The 2019 calendar for the UCI Women’s WorldTour confirms the excellent health of women’s cycling. This series holds a central position in the development strategy of the UCI and of our sport in general, notably concerning men-women equality. It’s a global competition, consolidated in terms of the number of events and days of competition which will facilitate, without race overlaps, the participation of teams in all events on the calendar. The increase in the media coverage confirms the commitment of organisers, the confidence of broadcasters, the enthusiasm of the public and the growing reputation of our series as a reference for all involved in women’s professional road cycling.”
2019 UCI Women’s WorldTour calendar [see here]
9 March: Strade Bianche (Italy) 17 March: Women’s WorldTour Ronde Van Drenthe (the Netherlands) 24 March: Trofeo Binda – Comune di Cittiglio (Italy) 28 March: Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne- (Belgium) 31 March: Gent Wevelgem in Flanders Fields (Belgium) 7 April: Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres (Belgium) 21 April: Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition (the Netherlands) 24 April: La Flèche Wallonne Féminine (Belgium) 28 April: Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes (Belgium) 9-11 May: Tour of Chongming Island UCI Women’s WorldTour (China) 16-18 May: Amgen Tour of California Women’s RaceWomen’s Race empowered with SRAM (United States) 22-25 May: WWT Emakumeen XXXII. Bira (Spain) 12-16 June: OVO Energy Womens Tour (Great Britain) 5-14 July: Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile (Italy) 23 July (to be confirmed) : La Course by Le Tour de France (France) 3 August: Prudential RideLondon Classique (Great Britain) 16 August: Postnord UCI WWT Vårgårda WestSweden TTT (Sweden) 18 August: Postnord UCI WWT Vårgårda WestSweden RR (Sweden) 22-25 August: Ladies Tour of Norway (Norway) 31 August: GP de Plouay – Lorient Agglomération (France) 3-8 September: Boels Ladies Tour (the Netherlands) 14-15 September: WNT Madrid Challenge by la Vuelta (Spain) 20 October: Tour of Guangxi Women’s WorldTour (China).