The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the famous Italian publishing house Panini, known the world over for its collectible sticker albums, are pleased to announce the upcoming launch of an album celebrating the centenary of the UCI Road World Championships.
This year’s edition, which begins in exactly 100 days, will take place in Flanders (Belgium) from 19 to 26 September.
This commemorative album will have particular resonance because, beyond the 100 years that have passed since the inaugural staging of the event in Copenhagen (Denmark), this edition will have as a backdrop the quintessential cycling heartland of Flanders: its legendary champions (Eddy Merckx, Johan Museeuw, Tom Boonen and Yvonne Reynders), its legendary races (the Ronde van Vlaanderen one of the sport’s five ‘Monuments’, and Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields), its past UCI Road World Championships (Moorslede in 1950, Waregem in 1957, and Ronse on two occasions, in 1963 and 1988), and finally its famous cobblestones and hills that make the four Ks of Flemish heritage so formidable… the Koppenberg, the Kwaremont, the Kapelmuur and the Kemmelberg.
The album presented by the UCI and Panini will celebrate the road race UCI Road World Champions of the last 100 years, honoured recipients of the prestigious rainbow jersey that is proudly worn during events on the UCI Road International Calendar until the subsequent edition of the UCI Worlds.
The UCI and Panini will offer exclusive content which will retrace the evolution of cycling. It will also feature the courses and four host cities of the anniversary event (Knokke-Heist, Bruges, Antwerp and Leuven), as well as cycling for all activities in Flanders, a region that was awarded the UCI Bike City label in February 2021.
30,000 copies of the album will be available from early July at newsstands in Belgium and Luxembourg, and internationally online at https://www.sticker-collection.be/.
UCI President David Lappartient said: "The centenary of the UCI Road World Championships will be an extremely popular event held in Flanders, a region with a veritable passion for cycling. So what better than a Panini album, dedicated to this century of sporting achievements and the great cycling champions, men and women, to strengthen the bond between fans and collectors, and our sport? This commemorative album will undoubtedly be a very sought-after object for devotees of cycling."
Panini Belgium CEO Thierry de Latre du Bosqueau said: “Panini is very proud to launch, from this summer and in collaboration with the UCI, a unique album tracing the 100 years of the UCI Road World Championships, whose 2021 edition will take place in Flanders. Thanks to this initiative, we are offering an unprecedented collection that invites fans to turn the pages of cycling’s history; the long-lasting story will continue at the next UCI Road World Championships in September, an event which is particularly important from a social point of view in the current world context. This wonderful album will no doubt become a collector’s item for all those who obtain a copy, whether avid collectors or cycling enthusiasts, young or not so young.”