The Management Committee of the Union Cycliste Internationale held its third ordinary meeting of the year from 20 to 22 September in Montréal, Canada, during the 2026 UCI Road World Championships.
The UCI Management Committee confirmed several decisions taken by the Professional Cycling Council (PCC) – the body that brings together stakeholders in men's and women's professional road cycling and formulates proposals on the sport's development – at its meeting on 4 September, covering various subjects including the UCI Women's WorldTour and UCI WorldTour calendars, and the points scale for road team riders competing in events of other disciplines. It was also informed of the PCC's agreement to create a leader's jersey for National Tours, the final terms of which will be put to a PCC vote on 8 December.
Regarding the UCI Women's WorldTour calendar, the Vuelta España Femenina by Carrefour.es will take place from 3 to 10 October 2027, now to immediately follow the men's event. The Vuelta a Burgos Feminas (Spain) will finally take place from 6 to 10 May 2027, on the dates previously occupied by the Vuelta España Femenina by Carrefour.es. Regarding the UCI WorldTour calendar, Eschborn-Frankfurt (Germany) will return to its traditional date of 1 May in 2027.
The points scale for riders competing in disciplines other than road cycling has been adopted. This scale, to be introduced from the 2027 season, completes the system allowing road teams to score points in the UCI World Ranking for teams when they field their riders at major events (UCI World Championships and UCI World Cups) of other disciplines (cyclo-cross, track, mountain bike and gravel – UCI World Championships only for the latter discipline).
The UCI Junior Road Nations Cup, whose new format was approved by the UCI Management Committee at its meeting in June, has passed its final milestone ahead of its first edition, with the approval of the 2027 calendar and the selection of the host for its Grand Final.
Eleven events – four in Europe, four in the Americas, two in Oceania and one in Africa – organised between February and July will feature on the 2027 UCI Junior Road Nations Cup programme. Each of these events will comprise a men's race and a women's race, bringing together teams of five riders – primarily national teams, and from the continent to encourage participation and reduce travel distances. The series’ Asian event has yet to be confirmed.
Four separate rankings will be established: men's and women's continental rankings, which determine qualification for the Grand Final, as well as men's and women's national rankings, used to allocate quotas for the UCI Road World Championships. Junior riders' results from the five Continental Championships and from the previous UCI Road World Championships will also be considered in calculating the rankings.
The Piccola Tre Valli Varesine, held in Varese, Italy, will serve as the Grand Final of the 2027 UCI Junior Road Nations Cup. The competition will take place from 29 July to 1 August. A total of 26 men's teams and 26 women's teams will take part in the Grand Final: for each of the two categories, ten from Europe, four from Asia, four from Africa, four from the Americas, two from Oceania, plus one national team from the host country and one team from the UCI World Cycling Centre.
Also on road cycling, a second level of certification for Sport Directors has been created, in addition to the one already in place for Sport Directors of UCI professional teams (UCI Women's WorldTeams, UCI Women's ProTeams, UCI WorldTeams and UCI ProTeams). Ahead of the 2027 UCI Cycling World Championships in Haute-Savoie Mont-Blanc (France), all Sport Directors working with their national selection will need to obtain certification by completing an on-line course. It will then be extended to all Sport Directors of UCI Continental Teams and UCI Women’s Continental Teams for the 2028 season.
On safety, the UCI Management Committee approved new rules for the barriers used at races. These rules are designed to ensure the use, in the final 200 metres before race finishes, of barriers that comply with the standards resulting from the study conducted by the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland Valais-Wallis. This requirement will apply to UCI WorldTour and UCI Women's WorldTour events from the 2027 season. The protocol will be made available to manufacturers to ensure they meet the specifications.
The Management Committee also stressed the pressing need to ensure the widespread deployment of GPS rider safety tracking systems, allowing real-time tracking of the location of riders and vehicles during races at all professional road events, initially focusing on events in the UCI WorldTour and UCI Women's WorldTour. The protocols, the relevant regulatory framework and the implementation timeline will be developed as quickly as possible.
A GPS safety tracking system was deployed for all categories at the 2025 UCI Road World Championships in Kigali (Rwanda). It is being used again at the 2026 UCI Road World Championships in Montréal and will be used at future editions of the event.
Cycling is a sport characterised by strong dynamism and high capacity for innovation by manufacturers in the sector. This positive momentum reflects cycling's growing popularity, but it must nonetheless be properly managed to avoid any excesses that could compromise safety, fairness, universality or sustainability. To achieve this, closer collaboration with economic stakeholders has become necessary. For this reason, the UCI has decided to establish a new framework for consultation with cycling industry stakeholders on equipment regulation. The aim is to consult directly with manufacturers and independent experts, without intermediaries, in order to produce objective, well-argued technical opinions based on solid data. This process will take into account the interests of manufacturers, in accordance with the Lugano Charter (see below), while keeping rider safety as the absolute priority.
The new framework will be built around new Technical Committees (TCs) dedicated to different products. For each product family (rider equipment, bicycle and data), a number of TCs will be established, each dedicated to a specific topic. For example, for rider equipment, one TC will be dedicated to clothing and another to protective equipment; for the bicycle, one TC will be dedicated to wheels and tyres, and another to frames. Cross-cutting TCs will also be created (dedicated to procedures as well as to a number of disciplines). Each TC will bring together industry representatives, independent experts and the UCI. UCI and industry representation will be balanced, with an equal number of seats within the various TCs.
The opinions issued by the TCs will support the UCI Equipment and New Technologies Commission in formulating recommendations to the UCI Management Committee. Any decision will nonetheless remain subject to approval by the UCI Management Committee. Following a pilot phase establishing the TCs dedicated to track, gravel and wheels, the framework will be rolled out to all TCs from February 2027.
Also in the area of equipment, the UCI Management Committee decided to launch a process to review the Lugano Charter, a founding text of the values and principles of international cycling adopted by the UCI in 1996. Thirty years after its adoption, given the evolution of practices, societal issues and safety requirements, it had become necessary to undertake a review of its content. A draft updated charter will be prepared ahead of a consultation phase open to the various cycling families and to manufacturers (February-April 2027). The new charter will be presented in 2027.
The Management Committee took note of the report from the UCI Medical Director, Professor Xavier Bigard, covering two priority subjects: crashes in road cycling and female genetic testing ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
After five months of monitoring, the first data from the road cycling crash study, conducted since March 2026 at UCI WorldTour and UCI Women's WorldTour events, show that injuries are generally more frequent and more severe among female riders than male riders, with a return to competition that takes on average twice as long. This unprecedented study, which is ongoing, will help guide future risk-reduction measures and validate their effectiveness based on the reference database being built.
Regarding the implementation of female genetic testing ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) published guiding principles on protecting the female category at the end of March 2026. On this basis, only biological women who do not carry the SRY gene will be able to compete in this category. This gene, located on the Y chromosome, triggers testosterone production at puberty. The principles for establishing a specific regulation were validated by the Management Committee; the regulation, which will be submitted for approval before the end of the year, will apply exclusively to events recognised by the IOC and will provide for a single test over the course of an athlete's career. The results of these systematic tests will be kept strictly confidential. An awareness programme will shortly be rolled out to athletes, teams and National Federations to ensure a smooth process ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
Looking ahead to the 2027 season, the UCI Management Committee approved the following UCI International Calendars and UCI Series calendars:
2027 UCI Road International Calendar This calendar includes all event categories, though it should be noted that the 2027 UCI WorldTour and 2027 UCI Women's WorldTour calendars had already been approved by the UCI Management Committee at its meeting in June, after being validated by the Professional Cycling Council.
2027 UCI Mountain Bike International Calendar (including the HERO UCI Cross-country Marathon World Cup)
2027 UCI BMX Racing International Calendar
2027 UCI BMX Freestyle International Calendar
2027 UCI Trials International Calendar (including the UCI Trials World Cup)
2027 UCI Track International Calendar
2027 UCI Para Cycling International Calendar
2027 UCI Indoor Cycling International Calendar
2027 UCI Gravel International Calendar (including the UCI Gravel World Series)
2027 UCI Gran Fondo World Series Calendar
These calendars will be published in full in the dedicated section of the UCI website on 29 September.
The UCI World Championships awarded for future years will be announced following the UCI Congress, taking place 23 September.
Regarding UCI World Championships already awarded, it was agreed, following discussions between the UCI and the event organiser, to change the dates of the 2027 UCI Masters Mountain Bike World Championships, to be held in Nevados de Chillán (Chile). Originally scheduled for 17 to 21 March, they will now take place from 24 to 28 March 2027. The dates of the 2030 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Durango (USA) have also been changed: originally scheduled for 21 to 25 August, they will now take place from 28 August to 1 September 2030.
Lastly, the UCI Management Committee decided to add the motor-pacing event to the programme of the UCI World Championships for track, which will be part of the 2027 UCI Cycling World Championships in Haute-Savoie Mont-Blanc. The motor-pacing race is a highly spectacular event, in which each rider races behind a motorcycle, ridden by a pacer in standing position, that can reach speeds of 90 km/h. The motorcycles are fitted with a roller at the rear, allowing riders to follow closely behind and benefit fully from the slipstream effect. The speciality will make its return to the UCI World Championships programme more than 30 years after its last appearance, in Palermo (Italy) in 1994. Established in 1893, the World Championships for motor-pacing are cycling’s oldest World Championships. Incorporated into the UCI Regulations for track cycling (art. 3.2.189 - 3.2.217), motor-pacing still has its own annual UEC European Championships. These will be the first UCI World Championships in the specialty to be contested by both men and women.
Regarding the 2027 UCI Cycling World Championships, the Management Committee welcomed the solidarity actions put in place with the UCI World Cycling Centre to support the participation of as many National Federations as possible in the best possible conditions. A one-month training camp will be organised in France ahead of the event: all National Federations from emerging cycling nations will be invited to send two young athletes, one man and one woman. The UCI Solidarity Programme will also be expanded to help fund the participation of these National Federations.
At the close of the three days of meetings, UCI President David Lappartient stated: "These three days of work in Montréal have enabled the UCI to make significant progress on a large number of matters that are important to the future of our sport. On safety first, we adopted new standards for race barriers and reaffirmed our commitment to ensuring the deployment, as quickly as possible, of GPS rider safety tracking systems at professional road events. The first results of our survey on road cycling crashes will also help guide our future prevention measures.
"From a regulatory perspective, the opening of a new consultation framework with cycling industry members, together with the launch of the review of the Lugano Charter thirty years after its adoption, illustrate our commitment to evolving our rules in consultation with all the families of cycling.
"We also approved the 2027 calendar for numerous disciplines, including that of the first edition of the UCI Junior Road Nations Cup. Ahead of the 2027 UCI Cycling World Championships in Haute-Savoie Mont-Blanc, several decisions were taken to ensure its sporting success and accessibility to as many participants as possible, notably enhanced solidarity actions with the UCI World Cycling Centre in support of National Federations from emerging cycling nations, and the return of motor-pacing on the track to the programme of the UCI World Championships."
The next meeting of the UCI Management Committee will take place on 28 and 29 January 2027 in Ostend, Belgium, during the 2027 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships.