Union Cycliste Internationale

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The UCI was founded on 14 April 1900 in Paris by the national cycling sports organisations of Belgium, the United States, France, Italy, and Switzerland. It replaced the International Cycling Association (ICA) by setting up in opposition in a row over whether Great Britain should be allowed just one team at the world Championships or separate teams representing England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Britain found itself outflanked, and it was not able to join the UCI – under the conditions the UCI had imposed – until 1903. There were originally 30 countries affiliated to the union. They did not have equal voting power and some had no vote at all. Votes were distributed by the number of tracks, or velodromes, that each nation claimed. France had 18 votes, the highest number, and Germany and Italy 14 each. Britain had eight, a number the writer Bill Mills said was acquired 'by including many rather doubtful grass tracks.' In 1965, under the pressure of the IOC, when the Olympics was an amateur event, the UCI created two subsidiary bodies, the International Amateur Cycling Federation (FIAC) and the International Professional Cycling Federation (FICP). The FIAC was based in Rome, the FICP in Luxembourg, and the UCI in Geneva. In 1992, the UCI reunified the FIAC and FICP, and merged them back into the UCI. The combined organisation then relocated to Aigle, close to the IOC in Lausanne. In 2004, the UCI constructed a 200-metre velodrome at the new World Cycling Centre adjacent to its headquarters. In September 2007 the UCI announced that it had decided to award ProTour status for the first time ever to an event outside of Europe; the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia. In 2013 Tracey Gaudry became the first woman appointed as vice president of the UCI. After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UCI said that Russian and Belarusian teams are forbidden from competing in international events. It also stripped both Russia and Belarus of scheduled events. On 3 May 2023, the UCI approved a process to review and allow Russian and Belarusian riders to participate in UCI events as Individual neutral athletes.

Reader's Guide

The UCI organises cycling's world championships, administration of which it gives to member nations. The first championships were on the road and on the track. They were allocated originally to member nations in turn, on condition the country was deemed competent and that it could guarantee ticket sales. A nation given a championship or series of championships was required to pay the UCI 30 per cent of ticket receipts from the track and 10 per cent from the road. Of this, the UCI kept 30 per cent and gave the rest to competing nations in proportion to the number of events in which it competed. There were originally five championships: amateur and professional sprint, amateur and professional road race, and professional Motor-paced racing. The winner of a UCI World Championship title is awarded a rainbow jersey, white with five coloured bands on the chest. This jersey can be worn in only the discipline, specialty and category of competition in which it was awarded, and expires on the day before the following world championship event. Former champions are permitted to wear rainbow piping on the cuffs and collar of their clothing. The UCI banned recumbents in competitions and in record attempts on 1 April 1934. After the death of Andrei Kivilev in the 2003 Paris–Nice, new rules were introduced on 5 May 2003, with the 2003 Giro d'Italia being the first major race affected. The 2003 rules allowed for discarding the helmets during final climbs of at least 5 kilometres in length; subsequent revisions made helmet use mandatory at all times. The UCI was accused of accepting a bribe in the 1990s to introduce the keirin, a track cycling race, into the Olympics. An investigation by the BBC claims that the UCI was paid approximately $3,000,000 by Japanese sources to add the race to the Olympic programme, something denied by the UCI. When Floyd Landis confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career in May 2010, he alleged that the UCI had accepted a bribe from Lance Armstrong to cover up an EPO positive after the 2001 Tour de Suisse. Discussing doping in 2012, UCI president Pat McQuaid emphasised the fact that his organisation was 'the first entity to introduce blood tests, the first sport to introduce the test for EPO'. The UCI has sued or threatened to sue several cyclists, journalists, and writers for defamation after they accused it of corruption or other misdeeds related to doping. In 2002, the UCI sued Festina soigneur Willy Voet over claims in his book Breaking the Chain. In 2004 the UCI won the case, and in 2006 won the appeal. In 2006, according to Cycling News, the UCI contacted Greg LeMond after an interview he did in 2006 with L'Equipe, and threatened to sue him for defamation. Another lawsuit was by Hein Verbruggen against WADA Chief Dick Pound in Swiss court regarding his comments about doping and the UCI; the lawsuit was settled by the parties in 2009. In 2011, the UCI sued Floyd Landis in Switzerland after Landis accused the body of several misdeeds, including the alleged coverup involving Lance Armstrong and the 2001 Tour de Suisse. In 2012 Cycling News reported that a District Court had ruled for the UCI against Landis. In 2012 UCI president Pat McQuaid and former president Hein Verbruggen, as well as the UCI itself, sued journalist Paul Kimmage in Switzerland for defamation. Under approval of the UCI, the Free Rate Downhill Race took place in May 2015 on Crimea, an internationally recognised Ukrainian territory that was annexed by the Russian Federation in March 2014. By officially overseeing an international competition with Russian license on the Ukrainian peninsula, the UCI was the first and only international sports governing body which undermined the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Did You Know?

• The UCI was founded on 14 April 1900 in Paris by the national cycling organisations of Belgium, the United States, France, Italy, and Switzerland.
• Votes in the early UCI were distributed by the number of velodromes each nation claimed; France had 18 votes, the highest number, and Germany and Italy 14 each.
• The UCI banned recumbent bicycles in competitions and in record attempts on 1 April 1934.
• After the death of Andrei Kivilev in the 2003 Paris–Nice, the UCI introduced mandatory helmet rules, initially allowing discarding during final climbs of at least 5 km, later making helmet use mandatory at all times.
• In 2013 Tracey Gaudry became the first woman appointed as vice president of the UCI.