2014 UCI World Cycling Tour (UWCT)

From UCI:

After a very successful season in 2013, the UCI World Cycling Tour (UWCT) enters 2014 with much exciting news and some very positive changes.

While our classic European qualification venues such as Italy, Belgium, Spain, France and Austria continue to increase international participation numbers every year, our other non-traditional European venues such as Greece and Denmark have been busy leading the change in their cycling culture. Whereas South Africa, Australia, Brazil and the USA continue to establish their events as great celebrations of international cycling. Moving forward for 2014, two new events will appear on the calendar: Mexico City and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Maraton Franja (Ljubljana, Slovenia) will be the venue of both a qualifier event and the UCI Amateur Road World Championships.

Stage Races
As a greater number of riders take on preparations on par with that of the pros for their upcoming racing season, training camps in warmer countries are quickly becoming a very attractive addition to their programs. And for those who are looking for a bit more excitement in their camps, stage races are the answer. New in 2014, there are two early qualifier stage race events that can fit perfectly for this purpose. Perth is the first one with a time trial on Friday, a traditional lap road race on Saturday and a new Granfondo style race on Sunday. Crete is next, hosting a stage race with a time trial and two road races. Leader jerseys will be given to the leaders of the general classification. Riders will also have the opportunity to skip one race day.

Age groups combined
Another change is the combination of the two youngest age groups into one new 19-34 age group. The challenger class will cease to exist while all remaining age groups will continue to have the chance to compete for the official UCI Rainbow Jersey.

Amateur Road World Championships
The UWCT Final has officially changed its name to UCI Amateur Road World Championships. This event will be held in Ljubljana, Slovenia from 28-31 August 2014. The younger age groups will compete on a 157km course while the older age groups will have 100km to cover. The 19km time trial is a real classic one; totally flat and windy. As in 2013, there will again be a team relay event in the program.

2014 Calendar
Sun 15 Sep 2013 Amy's GF Lorne Australia
26-27 Oct 2013 Msunduzi Road Challenge Pietermaritzburg South Africa
28-30 Mar 2014 UWCT Perth Perth Australia
Sun 6 Apr 2014 Copa 100k Recife Brazil
18-20 Apr 2014 Copa Ciudad de Mexico Mexico City Mexico
25-27 Apr 2014 Cretan Amateur Cycling Tour Chania Greece
17-18 May 2014 Tour of Winston-Salem Winston-Salem USA
Sun 18 May 2014 La Look Nevers France
30 May ? 1 Jun 2014 Copenhagen Gran Fondo Copenhagen Denmark
31 May ? 1 Jun 2014 UWCT Putrajaya Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
6-8 Jun 2014 Maraton Franja Ljubljana Slovenia
Sun 15 Jun 2014 Sankt Poltner Radmarathon Sankt Pölten Austria
Sun 22 Jun 2014 GF Eddy Merckx Andenne Belgium
18-20 Jul 2014 La leggendaria Charly Gaul Trento Italy
Sat 23 Aug 2014 Val d'Aran Cycling Tour Vielha Spain
28-31 Aug 2014 Amateur Road World Champ. Ljubljana Slovenia

In a partnership with renown Belgian sports marketing agency Golazo, the UCI has created the UWCT Corporation. This corporation will be responsible for the overall organization, coordination and marketing aspects of the UWCT qualifier events.

Details at  www.uciworldcyclingtour.com


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