The Championships will see a host of new rainbow jersey wearers don the honour of the strips for a year and events consist of Junior, Under 23 and Elite men's races as well as Junior and Elite women's races.
2018 UCI World Championships results
Elite Women's team time trial, Sun Sept 23 - Ötztal to Innsbruck, 53.8km
Canyon-SRAM were the winners, ahead of Boels-Dolmans, with Sunweb in third. Wiggle-High5 were the leaders at early check-points, but they haemorrhaged time on the second half.
Women's Junior time trial, Mon Sept 24 - Hall-Wattens to Innsbruck, 20.2km
The win went to Rozemarijn Ammerlaan (Netherlands), Camilla Alessio (Italy) was second whilst Great Britain's Elynor Backstedt managed rounded off the podium in third.
Men's Under 23 time trial, Mon Sept 24 - Hall-Wattens to Innsbruck, 28.5km
Mikkel Bjerg (Denmark) was the winner, with Brent Van Moer (Belgium) second and Mathias Norsgaard Jorgensen (Denmark) third. Best Great British rider was Ethan Hayer, in fifth - with Charlie Tanfield in 27th after missing his start by a handful of seconds.
Men's Junior time trial, Tues Sept 25 - Hall-Wattens to Innsbruck, 28.5km
Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) won, Lucas Plapp (Australia) was second and Andrea Piccolo (Italy) third - GB's best rider was Joseph Laverick (Great Britain) who made the top 10, in eighth.
Women's Elite Individual time trial, Tues Sept 25 - Hall-Wattens to Innsbruck, 28.5km
A Dutch 1-2-3 on the podium with defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten securing the top spot in 35-25, 28s ahead of Anna van der Breggen whilst Ellen van Dijk took third, 1-25 behind.
Australian Rohan Dennis flew into the rainbow skinsuit - completing the course in 1-03-02, 81s up on defending Tom Dumoulin, who took the silver medal by a margin of 0.5s over european champion Victor Campenaerts.
Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) stole the show, crashing early on, making up a huge deficit, before soloing the final 20km to the finish. Marius Mayrhofer (Germany) was second with Alessandro Fancellu (Italy) third.
UCI Road World Championships on TV: where to watch
The Road World Championships will be broadcast on Eurosport and the BBC.
Sunday September 23
Men and Women's team time trial, Eurosport 1, 14:45-17:30
Monday September 24
Junior women's, men's under 23 time trial, Eurosport 1, 14:45-17:20
Tuesday September 25
Junior men and women's time trial, Eurosport 1, 14:45-17:30
Women's time trial - BBC Red Button, Connected TV, 13:30-16:15
Wednesday September 26
Men's time trial - Eurosport 1, 14:00-17:30
Men's time trial - BBC Red Button, Connected TV, 13:30-16:35
Thursday September 27
Junior men and women's road race - Eurosport 1, 15:00-18:30
Friday September 28
Under-23 men's road race - Eurosport, timing TBC
Saturday, 29 September
Women's road race - Eurosport, from 11am
Women's road race - Connected TV, 11:00-14:30, BBC Red Button, BBC One, 14:00-16:00, and BBC Two, 16:00-16:55.
Sunday, 30 September
Men's road race - Eurosport, from 8:40am
Men's road race - Connected TV, 08:35-12:20, BBC Red Button, BBC Two, 13:45-16:30
UCI Road World Championships 2018 route
The 2018 Road World Championships route looks set to be one of the toughest in history, with organisers of the race in the Austrian city of Innsbruck including ramps of up to 25 per cent in the elite men's road race.
The official routes for all of the 2018 events, which take place from September 23-30, were revealed at the 2017 Worlds in Bergen with the elite men's road race set to cover over 5,000m of climbing over a distance of 258.5km.
The men's race will start in the town of Kufstein and begin with seven circuits of 24km of the 'Olympic Circuit' before heading northwards towards the Hungerburg settlement in the north where they'll hit a climb featuring 25 per cent sections. The men's peloton will then head back towards the centre of Innsbruck where the race will conclude.
Road races profile
The elite women's race, which begins in the same place, will begin with a 90km run towards the Olympic Circuit in Innsbruck which they will cover three times for a race distance of 156.2km.
Only the junior women's race begins elsewhere, with the junior men and U23 men also beginning in Kufstein to the east of Innsbruck. Each race will take on 71.7km, 132.4km and 179.9km respectively.
The men's individual time trial will also feature some demanding climbing, with the 52.5km course covering a 4.4km climb that hits a maximum pitch of 14 per cent. They begin in Rattenberg and head west towards Innsbruck where the race finishes.
Men's individual time trial profile
All the other time trials will start closer to Innsbruck in Hall-Wattens with the elite women covering 28.5km. Junior women ride a course of 20.2km, while the male juniors and U23s will ride the same 28.5km course.
Women's individual time trial profile
The team time trials once again feature some tough climbing for the riders, with the men taking on a climb that hits 10 per cent. The men's and the women's race will both begin in Ötztal and finish in Innsbruck, with the men covering 62.1km and women covering 53.8km.
“After Villach in 1987 and Salzburg in 2006, it is a real pleasure to return to Austria with our leading road cycling event of the year," UCI president Brian Cookson said at the course unveiling.
"The Organising Committee for the 2018 UCI Road World Championships has pulled out all the stops to design magnificent and challenging courses. I have no doubt that these race courses will get the approval of both the riders and cycling fans worldwide.”
Past results: UCI Road World Championships 2017, Bergen, Norway
Peter Sagan wins Road World Championships (Bergen, Norway)
(Image credit: Yuzuru Sunada)
Peter Sagan (Slovakia) and Chantal Blaak (Netherlands) became the UCI World Champions of 2017 in Norway this September.
Sagan's win took him to a total of three consecutive titles. Blaak's win was a first, she was initially positioned in the race as a domestique working for time trial 1-2 duo Annemiek van Vleuten and Anna van der Breggen.
Chantal Blaak wins the elite women's road race at the 2017 World Championships
The championships took place in Bergen, over a lumpy course with a flat sprint finish - with several races resulting in breakaway wins.
The senior men's race was the only road race which came down to a bunch sprint, with Sagan taking the win from Alexander Kristoff, on home turf, by just half a bike length.
What are the UCI Road World Championships?
UCI Road World Championship titles are contested for road race, individual time trial and team time trial events.
In the road race and individual TT, there are categories for elite men, elite women, junior men, under-23 men and junior women. The TTT is run using trade rather than national teams.
Winners of the senior individual time trial and road race earn the right to wear the coveted rainbow jersey of world champion for the following 12 months in that discipline.
In 2018, the World Championships will move to Innsbruck (Austria) and the 2019 edition will take place in Yorkshire (Great Britain).
Previous World Championship locations
2017: Bergen, Norway
2016 Doha (Qatar)
2015 Richmond, Virginia (USA)
2014 Ponferrada (Spain)
2013 Toscana (Italy)
2012 Limburg (The Netherlands)
2011 Copenhagen (Denmark)
2010 Melbourne (Australia)
Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Michelle Arthurs-Brennan the Editor of Cycling Weekly website. An NCTJ qualified traditional journalist by trade, Michelle began her career working for local newspapers. She's worked within the cycling industry since 2012, and joined the Cycling Weekly team in 2017, having previously been Editor at Total Women's Cycling. Prior to welcoming her daughter in 2022, Michelle raced on the road, track, and in time trials, and still rides as much as she can - albeit a fair proportion indoors, for now.
The Oura ring reviewed: is this wellness tracker helpful to cyclists?
Shimano RC703 road shoe review: sleek, stiff and robust
Latvia protest against Mathieu van der Poel's World Championships result, saying he 'endangered spectators'
'I was pushing but I couldn't feel my legs' - GB's Oscar Onley on his breakout World Championships ride
'It was a stupid move, but it worked' - Tadej Pogačar on his history-making World Championships ride
'Crazy', 'not normal', 'another level' - Peloton reacts to another Tadej Pogačar solo masterclass at World Championships
Tadej Pogačar completes stunning Triple Crown with 51km solo to maiden rainbow jersey
'Everyone wants to win, sometimes that means everyone wants to lose' - Dutch attack, attack, and attack, but end up with fifth after confusing World Championships road race
Lotte Kopecky has 'perfect day' as she sprints to Worlds glory again
'In a sprint with Kopecky, that’s probably the best I can do' - Chloé Dygert content with silver in World Championships road race
