Glasgow will host inaugural combined UCI Cycling World Championships

Glasgow will host the first ever combined cycling World Championships in 2023, the UCI has announced.

The groundbreaking sporting event will bring together 13 cycling disciplines over two weeks in August for the first time, with thousands of riders competing for rainbow jerseys.

Held every four years, the UCI Cycling World Championships will bring together road, track, mountain biking, downhill, trials, indoor cycling, Gran Fondo and para-cycling titles in one event.

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Speaking at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow on Friday (Feburary 8), UCI president David Lappartient said: “The creation and the implementation of this event was one of the commitments I made during my campaign for UCI presidency and I am proud to have fulfilled it.

“Glasgow and Scotland have a great deal of experience in the organisation of major sporting events, notably multi-sports, such as the first edition of the European Sports Championships that it organised in 2018.

“I am convinced that the UCI Cycling World Championships will be a great success, and I look forward enormously to preparing them with our Scottish partners.”

Lappartient said he hopes the event will encourage cycling as a form of daily transport and that Glasgow will use the championships to push for increased cycling in Scotland.

The championships will be held each pre-Olympic year from 2023.

Glasgow and Scotland host annual rounds of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup and have held the 2007 Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships, the UCI Track Cycling World Cup and the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The Scottish government’s cabinet secretary for culture, tourism and external affairs Fiona Hyslop said: “As the first ever host of this event, Scotland will cement its position as a leader and innovator in the planning and delivery of major sporting events.

“Our overall aim is for Scotland to become one of Europe’s top cycling nations with cycling firmly embedded across Scotland as the favoured way to travel to school and work, as an enjoyable leisure activity and efficient way to improve health.”

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The event will be held across Glasgow’s existing world-class cycling infrastructure, including the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome and the Glasgow BMX centre. No new venues will be built for the event.

Olympic gold medallist and three-time track world champion Katie Archibald said: “I’ve competed in a few major events in Scotland, and they are amongst some of my career highlights thanks to the amazing support myself and my team-mates get from the home crowd.

“The UCI World Championships 2023 sounds really exciting, it’ll be the year before the Paris Olympics, meaning all the nations will be ramping up their preparations so the racing will be great to watch.

“I also like the idea of being able to support my team-mates from other disciplines in their World Championships.”