The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) will stage a wide range of events and activities at the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) for the final stage of the Tour de Romandie 2022: the Aigle à Villars time trial on Sunday 1 May.
The elite training and development centre, which is the also home of the UCI, will host the start of the stage, which will bring the curtain down on the 75th Tour de Romandie. The first rider will set off at 12.28pm from the UCI WCC.
To mark the occasion, the UCI will be opening the doors of the UCI WCC to the general public and giving them the opportunity to take part in a series of cycling-related events and activities.
From 11am through to 5pm, young and old alike can put their cycling skills to the test on an agility course set up by Swiss Cycling and on two pumptracks (one dirt and the other tarmac), all free of charge. The pumptracks are open to local residents all year long.
Visitors on the day can also take part in free introductory track cycling and BMX Racing sessions, a mechanics’ workshop and a guided tour of the UCI WCC. These events run from 1pm to 5pm and must be booked beforehand, as only a limited number of places are available. Please register below if interested. Should places still be available on the day, visitors will be able to sign up at the Reception/Registration stand in front of the UCI WCC.
Both introductory sessions will be led by specialist riders. The track cycling session will be held in the velodrome, where the Austrian Mathias Brändle broke the UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot on 30 October 2014, while the BMX Racing session will take place on the BMX track used by athletes to prepare for the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Equipment (bicycles, helmets, shoes and protective gear) will be made available to participants. The sessions are open to people aged ten and over. Participants in the track cycling session must be over 1.45m tall and have a minimum shoe size of 36.
Making use of equipment provided by the UCI WCC, the mechanics’ workshop will be offering tips on bike maintenance, although it must be noted that this is not a workshop for participants to carry out their own bike repairs!
The guided tour of the UCI WCC will take visitors through its 20-year history. Every year, the centre welcomes a large number of riders from all over the world for training and development, with Great Britain’s Victoria Pendleton and Chris Froome among the early stars to have graced its track and facilities. Since then, the centre has also trained a great many other successful athletes such as Chinese track cyclist Guo Shuang (four-time Olympic medallist and six-time UCI World Champion) Venezuela’s Stefany Hernandez (UCI World Champion for BMX Racing in 2015 and Olympic bronze medallist at Rio 2016) and more recently Eritrean Biniam Girmay who stamped his name on world cycling this spring with his victory in the UCI WorldTour Classic Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields.
As well as visiting the wide range of facilities and displays at the UCI WCC, those who register for the guided tour will learn all about the UCI, its World Cycling Centre and the many stories that have played out there.
2022 Tour de Romandie: registration for UCI WCC activities on 1st May