UCI and 2023 UCI Cycling Worlds

Read frequently asked questions about the UCI and the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is the world governing body for cycling. 

The winners of each Championship events at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships are awarded the rainbow jersey – one of the most iconic prizes in the sport. 

The UCI World Champion has the honour of wearing the rainbow jersey when competing in that same discipline for a whole year. 

After the world champion’s reign is over, that rider is allowed to wear rainbow piping on the sleeve cuffs and collar of their trade team jersey until the end of their career, as testimony to an exceptional achievement. 

Read our blog article on the story of the rainbow jersey.

The vision of UCI President, David Lappartient, for this historic and innovative event will bring together 13 existing individual World Championships cycling disciplines into one mega event for the first time.  

The Championships will gather thousands of the world’s best cyclists all vying to win the iconic rainbow jersey, in what will become the world’s biggest cycling event, broadcast to a global audience. 

“I am delighted that the UCI has today awarded the 2023 UCI cycling world championships to Glasgow and Scotland. The creation and the implementation of this event was one of the commitments I had made during my campaign for UCI presidency, and I am proud to have fulfilled it." 

Davide Lappartient 
President of the UCI 

Find out more 

The first UCI Road World Championships took place in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1921 and has been held every year since, except during World War II between 1939 – 1945. An elite level for women was introduced in 1958, with Individual Time Trails added to the Championships in 1994. 

The rainbow jersey was first awarded in 1927, the year of the first UCI Road World Championships for professional riders. The design has remained much the same ever since. It is predominantly white with five horizontal stripes representing the UCI colours around the chest.  

The colours of the stripes (blue, red, black, yellow, and green) represent the five continents and are the same as those which appear in the rings on the Olympic flag. The rainbow stripes are used for all nine UCI-governed cycling nine UCI-governed cycling disciplines, including road racing, track racing, cyclo-cross, BMX, trials, para-cycling, and mountain biking. 

Only official sponsors and partners can use the Championships logo.

For public guidelines please visit the Public Guidelines page on our website for how to dress your community, school, or business.  

Details of the current 2022 UCI World Championships can be found at the bottom of each page here  

We've got lots of hints and tips on finding your way around our amazing country on our Getting to the Championships page.

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Organisers of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships have two charity partners, these are Maggie’s, a cancer support charity who has been appointed as UK national charity partner, and World Bicycle Relief our global charity partner. Find out more below: 

The 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships online shop is open, and you can secure your memorabilia of this historic event now!

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