Following its first meeting of 2016 held in conjunction with the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, the UCI Management Committee has decided to award the 2018 UCI Road World Championships to the city of Innsbruck, Austria.

Amongst numerous international sport events, Innsbruck – often referred to as the Capital of the Alps – is one of three cities (with St. Moritz, Switzerland and Lake Placid, United States of America) which have twice hosted the Winter Olympic Games, in 1964 and 1976. It also hosted the 1984 and 1988 Winter Paralympic Games and was the host city of the maiden Winter Youth Olympic Games in 2012.

2018 will be the third time the UCI Road World Championships have been held in Austria after 1987 in Villach and 2006 in Salzburg.

“I have no doubt that Innsbruck will provide a stunning and challenging route for riders to compete on, as well as a wonderful, unique backdrop that can only add to the spectator and viewer experience”, said UCI President Brian Cookson.

The UCI Management Committee noted that preparations are well underway for October’s UCI Road World Championships in Doha, Qatar. In addition to the 2018 UCI Road World Championships, the following events were also awarded by the UCI Management Committee:

• 2018 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships to Valkenburg (The Netherlands);
• 2016, 2017 and 2018 UCI Masters Cyclo-cross World Championships to Mol (Belgium);
• 2016 UCI Masters Mountain Bike World Championships to Val di Sole (Italy).

In another significant move towards gender equality in cycling, the UCI Management Committee decided that from this year, the women’s prize money per round of the UCI Trials World Cup will be equal to the Men Elite.

Just over a month after he was elected by his peers as President of the renewed UCI Athletes Commission, Dutch road rider Bobby Traksel was co-opted on the UCI Management Committee and attended his first meeting in Belgium. Following his election at the 2015 UCI Congress in Richmond, Harald Tiedemann Hansen, President of the Norwegian Cycling Federation (NCF) since 2008, also attended is first UCI Management Committee meeting.

“I’d like to formally welcome both Bobby and Harald Tiedemann to the UCI Management Committee and am looking forward to their valuable contributions to UCI strategic thinking and decision making”, said Brian Cookson. “In particular, ensuring that the views of the riders are more embedded in our thinking is critical as we move forwards.” For example it has been decided that a rider should now sit on the UCI Equipment Commission.

Finally, the following calendars were also approved: 2016/2017 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup and International Calendar, 2016/2017 Track Cycling International Calendar. Dates of the 2016/2017 UCI Track Cycling World Cup will be revealed in due course.

The next UCI Management Committee meeting will take place on 2-3 June in Lausanne (Switzerland).