Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is the worldwide governing body for cycling. It develops and oversees cycling in all its forms and for all people, as a competitive sport, a healthy leisure activity and a sustainable means of transport, but also as a way to have fun.

It represents, to sporting and public institutions alike, the interests of 197 National Federations, five Continental Confederations, more than 1,500 professional riders, a million licensed competitors, millions of cycling enthusiasts and two billion bicycle users.

The UCI manages the development of cycling as a competitive sport and in all its other forms. It commits to reaching the highest standards in all our activity, and to earning and maintaining a reputation as an International Federation of outstanding performance and integrity.

The UCI manages and promotes cycling’s eight disciplines: road, track, mountain bike, BMX Racing, BMX Freestyle, cyclo-cross, trials and indoor cycling. Five of these are featured on the Olympic Games programme (road, track, mountain bike, BMX Racing and BMX Freestyle), two in the Paralympic Games (road and track) and four in the Youth Olympic Games (road, mountain bike, BMX Racing and BMX Freestyle). Cycling races have been held at every Olympic Games in the modern era, and today cycling is the third Olympic sport in terms of medals awarded (66) and athlete quotas (528) at the biggest sporting event on the planet.

Read more about them on their website: www.uci.org/inside-uci/about/about-the-uci

UCI Teams

The UCI puts road teams into three categories: UCI WorldTeams, UCI ProTeams and UCI Continental Teams. WorldTeams and ProTeams are managed by the UCI and the Continental Teams are governed by national federation, here in the UK that’s British Cycling.

UCI WorldTeams is the category for the cycling team of the highest category in professional road cycling. Teams in this category can enter and race the UCI World Tour, a series of stage tours around the world. The most famous being the Tour de France.
UCI WorldTeams consists of teams such as; Trek–Segafredo, Movistar Team, or Ineos Grenadiers (Formerly Team Sky)

UCI ProTeams is the second category of professional road cycling. ProTeams compete in the UCI Continental Circuits, which is divided into five continental zones: Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Sometimes, teams are also invited to participate in UCI World Tour and UCI ProSeries events, although they are not eligible to win points in the World Tour rankings.

UCI Continental Teams is the the third category of the UCI cycling pyramid of professional road cycling. Continental teams, compete almost exclusively in the UCI Continental Circuits while sometimes getting invitations to UCI ProSeries events as well.
In 2021 Saint Piran registered as a UCI Continental Team and have been very fortunate to receive an invite to the UCI ProSeries Tour of Britain event, which this year starts in our home county of Cornwall.