UCI Road World Championships

Outfit of Jean-Pierre Monseré as worldchampion (1970), consisting of victory ribbon, cap, medal and rainbow jersey (collection KOERS. Museum of Cycle Racing)

All the world championship events are ridden by national teams, not trade teams such as in most other major races. The winner of each category is entitled to wear the rainbow jersey in races of that category (either mass start or time trial) until the next championships. It currently includes the following championships:

• Elite Men's road race
• Elite Men's time trial
• Under-23 Men's road race
• Under-23 Men's time trial
• Junior Men's road race
• Junior Men's time trial
• Elite Women's road race
• Elite Women's time trial
• Junior Women's road race
• Junior Women's time trial
• Mixed team relay

Former events:

• Men's amateur road race (1921–1995)
• Men's team time trial (1962–2018)
• Women's team time trial (1987–2018)

The first world championships took place in 1921, though the only event that was contested was the men's road race for amateurs.[1] The first professional world championship took place in July 1927 at the Nürburgring in Germany where Italian Alfredo Binda won the professional men's race and Belgian Jean Aerts won the men's amateur race. The women's road race was introduced in 1958. A men's team time trial, contested by national teams, was introduced in 1962. Beginning in 1972, the team time trial was discontinued in Olympic years only. Individual time trials in all categories were added in 1994, which was also the last year for the original incarnation of the men's team time trial. In 2012, the men's team time trial was reinstated, and a women's team time trial added to the program; both were contested by trade teams. In 2019, the team time trial events for men and women were replaced by a mixed relay team time trial.[2]

Until 1995, there were separate races for male professional and amateur riders. In 1996, the amateur category was replaced with a category for men under-23 years old, with the professional category becoming an open (later elite) category.

From 1995 until 2022, the event was held towards the end of the European season in late September, usually following the Vuelta a España. Before that, the event had always been a summer race, held in late August or the first week of September (except for 1970, when it was a mid-season summer event).

From 2023, every fourth year the event will held as part of the combined multi-disciplinary UCI Cycling World Championships, the inaugural edition of which will be held in August.

The world championships are located in a different city or region every year. The event can be held over a relatively flat course which favors cycling sprinters or a hilly course which favors a climbing specialist or all-rounder. In each case, the course is usually held on a circuit, of which the riders complete multiple laps.

The world championship road race and two of the three Grand Tours (namely the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France) form the Triple Crown of Cycling.

Note: Not held from 1939 to 1945 because of World War II.

Edition Year Host City Host Country Events 1 1921 Copenhagen  Denmark 1 2 1922 Liverpool  Great Britain 1 3 1923 Zürich   Switzerland 1 4 1924 Paris  France 1 5 1925 Apeldoorn  Netherlands 1 6 1926 Milan  Italy 1 7 1927 Nürburgring  Germany 2 8 1928 Budapest  Hungary 2 9 1929 Zürich   Switzerland 2 10 1930 Liège  Belgium 2 11 1931 Copenhagen  Denmark 2 12 1932 Rome  Italy 2 13 1933 Montlhéry  France 2 14 1934 Leipzig  Germany 2 15 1935 Floreffe  Belgium 2 16 1936 Berne   Switzerland 2 17 1937 Copenhagen  Denmark 2 18 1938 Valkenburg  Netherlands 2 19 1946 Zürich   Switzerland 2 20 1947 Reims  France 2 21 1948 Valkenburg  Netherlands 2 22 1949 Copenhagen  Denmark 2 23 1950 Moorslede  Belgium 2 24 1951 Varese  Italy 2 25 1952 Luxembourg  Luxembourg 2 26 1953 Lugano   Switzerland 2 27 1954 Solingen  West Germany 2 28 1955 Frascati  Italy 2 29 1956 Copenhagen  Denmark 2 30 1957 Waregem  Belgium 2 31 1958 Reims  France 3 32 1959 Zandvoort  Netherlands 3 33 1960 Karl-Marx-Stadt  East Germany 3 34 1961 Berne   Switzerland 3 35 1962 Salò di Garda  Italy 4 36 1963 Ronse  Belgium 4 37 1964 Sallanches  France 4 38 1965 San Sebastián  Spain 4 39 1966 Nürburgring  West Germany 4 40 1967 Heerlen  Netherlands 4 41 1968 Imola  Italy 4 42 1969 Zolder  Belgium 4 43 1970 Leicester  Great Britain 4 44 1971 Mendrisio   Switzerland 4 45 1972 Gap  France 2 46 1973 Barcelona  Spain 4 47 1974 Montreal  Canada 4 48 1975 Yvoir  Belgium 4 49 1976 Ostuni  Italy 2 50 1977 San Cristóbal  Venezuela 4 51 1978 Nürburgring  West Germany 4

Edition Year Host City Host Country Events 52 1979 Valkenburg  Netherlands 4 53 1980 Sallanches  France 2 54 1981 Prague  Czechoslovakia 4 55 1982 Chichester  Great Britain 4 56 1983 Altenrhein   Switzerland 4 57 1984 Barcelona  Spain 1 58 1985 Giavera del Montello  Italy 4 59 1986 Colorado Springs  United States 4 60 1987 Villach  Austria 5 61 1988 Ronse  Belgium 2 62 1989 Chambéry  France 5 63 1990 Utsunomiya  Japan 5 64 1991 Stuttgart  Germany 5 65 1992 Benidorm  Spain 2 66 1993 Oslo  Norway 5 67 1994 Agrigento  Italy 7 68 1995 Duitama  Colombia 5 69 1996 Lugano   Switzerland 6 70 1997 San Sebastián  Spain 10 71 1998 Valkenburg  Netherlands 10 72 1999 Verona  Italy 10 73 2000 Plouay  France 10 74 2001 Lisbon  Portugal 10 75 2002 Zolder  Belgium 10 76 2003 Hamilton  Canada 10 77 2004 Verona  Italy 10 78 2005 Madrid  Spain 6 79 2006 Salzburg  Austria 6 80 2007 Stuttgart  Germany 6 81 2008 Varese  Italy 6 82 2009 Mendrisio   Switzerland 6 83 2010 Geelong  Australia 6 84 2011 Copenhagen  Denmark 10 85 2012 Valkenburg  Netherlands 12 86 2013 Florence  Italy 12 87 2014 Ponferrada  Spain 12 88 2015 Richmond  United States 12 89 2016 Doha  Qatar 12 90 2017 Bergen  Norway 12 91 2018 Innsbruck  Austria 12 92 2019 Harrogate  Great Britain 11 93 2020 Imola [lower-alpha 1]  Italy 4 94 2021 Flanders  Belgium 11 95 2022 Wollongong  Australia 11 96 2023 Glasgow [lower-alpha 2]  Great Britain 11 97 2024 Zürich   Switzerland 11 98 2025 Kigali  Rwanda 11 99 2026 Montreal  Canada 11 100 2027 Haute-Savoie [lower-alpha 3]  France 11 101 2028 Abu Dhabi  United Arab Emirates 11

Updated after 2023 UCI Road World Championships.

Times	Nations
14	Italy
10	Belgium -   Switzerland
9	France
8	Germany -  Netherlands
7	Spain
6	Denmark
5	Great Britain
3	Austria
2	Australia -  Canada -  Norway -  United States
1	Colombia -  Czechoslovakia -  Hungary -  Japan -  Luxembourg -  Portugal -  Qatar -  United Arab Emirates -  Venezuela

Updated after 2022 UCI Road World Championships.

Medal table includes only medals achieved in senior events. Mixed nation team events such as the Team Time Trial from 2012 to 2018 are excluded.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Italy	54	48	44	146
2	Belgium	39	32	31	102
3	Netherlands	38	33	28	99
4	France	34	31	30	95
5	Switzerland	16	24	21	61
6	Germany	14	17	20	51
7	United States	14	14	13	41
8	Great Britain	13	11	12	36
9	Soviet Union	12	16	16	44
10	East Germany	10	2	4	16
11	Spain	9	13	16	38
12	Sweden	9	5	7	21
13	Denmark	7	11	10	28
14	Poland	7	7	4	18
15	Australia	6	12	8	26
16	West Germany	4	4	5	13
17	Russia	4	4	4	12
18	Lithuania	3	3	5	11
19	Norway	3	2	4	9
20	Slovakia	3	1	0	4
21	Colombia	2	1	2	5
22	Belarus	2	0	1	3
23	Luxembourg	1	3	4	8
24	New Zealand	1	2	2	5
25	Ukraine	1	2	1	4
26	Ireland	1	1	3	5
27	Latvia	1	1	0	2
28	Portugal	1	0	0	1
29	Canada	0	3	3	6
30	Czechoslovakia	0	2	2	4
31	Austria	0	1	2	3
32	Hungary	0	1	1	2
	Slovenia	0	1	1	2
34	Brazil	0	1	0	1
35	Kazakhstan	0	0	2	2
36	Czech Republic	0	0	1	1
	Finland	0	0	1	1
	Uruguay	0	0	1	1
Totals (38 entries)		309	309	309	927

• Belgium at the UCI Road World Championships
• Denmark at the UCI Road World Championships
• Germany at the UCI Road World Championships
• Italy at the UCI Road World Championships
• Lithuania at the UCI Road World Championships
• Netherlands at the UCI Road World Championships
• New Zealand at the UCI Road World Championships
• Spain at the UCI Road World Championships
• United States at the UCI Road World Championships

• UCI World Championships
• European Road Championships
• Triple Crown of Cycling