'A tremendous catalyst for competitive cycling and everyday bike riding' – India to host UCI Road World Championships for first time in 2032

The UCI Road World Championships will head to India for the first time in 2032, it was announced on Wednesday evening in Canada.

At a meeting of the UCI Congress at the current Worlds in Montréal, it was officially decided that the world's most populous country would host cycling's blue riband event for the first time.

The Worlds will take place in Pune, a city in the central west of the country, south west of Mumbai, in 2032, in the state of Maharashtra. The region hosted India's first-ever UCI ranked stage race, the Bajaj Pune Grand Tour, in January this year.

It will be just the fourth time that the Worlds will take place in Asia, with Abu Dhabi hosting the event in 2028, after Japan in 1990 and Qatar in 2016. Ahmedabad in India is also currently one of the forerunners for the 2036 Olympic Games. UCI president David Lappartient, an IOC voting member, was also a key part behind the move for Kigali, Rwanda, to become the first African host of the Worlds in 2025.

At the same Congress, it was decided that Groningen and Drenthe in the Netherlands would host the 2034 combined Road and Para Cycling Road World Championships, after they failed in their bid to host the 2032 event. 2033 is still without a host city.

"I would like to thank all the National Federations gathered in Montréal for their commitment throughout the year," Lappartient said in a press release. "The hosts revealed today shape the map of world cycling for the years to come, and I am particularly delighted that India will host the UCI Road World Championships for the first time, in 2032. In a country that accounts for nearly a fifth of the world's population, this event can become a tremendous catalyst for both competitive cycling and everyday bike riding.

"I would also like to extend my warm congratulations to the five recipients of the UCI Merit, each of whom has, in their own way, helped advance cycling — including Serge Arsenault, whose history with our sport began right here, in Montréal, at the 1974 UCI Road World Championships."