21 was the number of days between Laura Stigger’s two World titles. After winning Junior cross-county Olympic gold for the second time at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships presented by Mercedes-Benz in Lenzerheide (Switzerland) on September 5th, the 18-year-old Austrian sprinted to victory in the Junior road race at the UCI Road World Championships in her birth town of Innsbruck on September 27th.
12 participations in the UCI Road World Championships since 2003 and first victory for Alejandro Valverde in Innsbruck-Tirol. The 38-year-old Spaniard finally claimed the road race rainbow jersey after six podium appearances (2nd in 2003, 2005 and 3rd in 2006, 2012, 2013, 2014).
730 days in the rainbow stripes for the Netherlands’ Annemiek van Vleuten (Women Elite) and Dane Mikkel Bjerg (Men U23): a year after winning their respective individual time trials in Bergen (Norway) both athletes successfully defended their titles in Innsbruck-Tirol, earning the iconic jersey for another 365 days.
2 World titles for Junior rider Remco Evenepoel at the UCI Road World Championships. Two days after winning the individual time trial by more than 1m23, the Belgian rider soloed to victory in the road race by almost the same winning margin: 1m25.
49.6 km/hr was the average speed clocked by Australian Rohan Dennis to win the individual time trial at the UCI Road World Championships. The former UCI Hour Record-holder covered the 52.5km course in Innsbruck-Tirol in a time of 1h03’2.
3 minutes and 42 seconds is the time UCI Road World Champion Anna van der Breggen waited at the finish line in Innsbruck-Tirol before the arrival of her runner-up Amanda Spratt (Australia). The Dutch winner rode 39km solo to victory, completing the 156.2km course in 4h11’04.
37 is not too old to sign a first pro contract! After winning the Women 35-39 age group at the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships in Varese, Italy, in September, Belgian Marie Dessart signed with UCI Women’s Team Lotto Soudal Ladies for 2019. The 37-year-old physical education teacher cannot wait: “It’s fantastic to get such an opportunity at my age. It’s a dream coming true.”
10 season-long international road cycling series were included on the UCI Internatonal Calendar in 2018: UCI WorldTour, UCI Women’s WorldTour, UCI Africa Tour, UCI Asia Tour, UCI America Tour, UCI Europe Tour, UCI Oceania Tour, UCI Nations’ Cup U23, UCI Men Junior Nations’ Cup, and the UCI Women Junior Nations’ Cup.
7 riders from four different teams wore the UCI Women’s WorldTour leader jersey in 2018: Anna Van Der Breggen, Katarzyna Niewiadoma, Jolien D’Hoore, Amy Pieters, Chantal Blaak, Marianne Vos and Annemiek Van Vleuten, overall winner at the end of the season.
73 victories for UCI WorldTeam Quick Step Floors in 2018 placed them at the top of the 2018 UCI WorldTour teams rankings. The team’s success started in January with Elia Viviani's win on stage 3 of the Tour Down Under (Australia) and ran through to the final event on the UCI WorldTour calendar, the Tour of Guangxi (China), where Fabio Jakobsen raced to victory on stage 6.
50 was the number of days Sofia Bertizzolo (Astana Women’s Team) spent in the UCI Women’s WorldTour best youth jersey out of 52 days of racing. The Italian won the jersey at the 3rd event of the UCI Women’s WorldTour and never lost it.