International Cycling Union

Members of the ICU Congress in 1909.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) (French: Union Cycliste Internationale) is the association of national cycling federations. It was created on April 14, 1900 in Paris, initially integrating the federations of France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and the United States of America, its first president being the Belgian Emile de Beukelaer.

Currently, the UCI headquarters are in Aigle (Switzerland), located in the main building of the modern facilities of the World Cycling Centre, a complex dedicated to the training of cyclists. The acting president is, since September 2017, the French David Lappartient.

Introduction

Brian Cookson, former president for 2013-2017.

The UCI offers licenses to riders and organizes disciplinary rules, such as doping. It also controls the race classification and the points ranking system in various cycling disciplines, such as mountain, road and time trial, for both men's and women's competitions, whether amateur or professional. In addition, he oversees the World Cups in various disciplines and different categories, where countries compete instead of teams. The winners of these races have the right to wear a special jersey with the color of the rainbow ("maillot rainbow") the following year, in addition to wearing the rainbow drawing on the cuff and neck for the rest of the race. career.

History

ICU Commissioner.

The UCI was founded on April 14, 1900 in Paris by the national cycling organizations of Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland, and the United States.

In 1965, under pressure from the International Olympic Committee, the UCI split into the "Federation International Amateur de Ciclismo" (FIAC) and the "International Federation of Professional Cycling" (FICP), coordinating the UCI both institutions. The amateur was set in Rome, the professional in Luxembourg, and the UCI in Geneva.

The Amateur Federation was the largest of the two organizations, with 127 members from five continents. It was dominated by the Eastern European countries, which were basically amateurs. In addition, they represented cycling at the Olympic Games, and they only competed against the members of the Professional Federation on rare occasions.

In 1992, the UCI unified the FIAC and the FICP, merging them into the UCI. The joint organization moved to Lausanne.

In 2004, the UCI built a new 200m velodrome at the world cycling center.

Functions

The UCI, as it has progressed and evolved over time, has been modifying and expanding its functions in the cycling field, as it is the highest level of it. However, there has always been a main objective since its beginnings back in the year 1900: to promote and favor cycling as a sport and the group of cyclists who practice it. As for the rest of the main functions, they are listed below:

• Review and improve if necessary the current rules of international cycling.
• To carry out a plan for the cyclist training program.
• Organize cyclists and championships to reinforce cycling and competition in it.
• Review the international cyclist calendar for the proper functioning and feasibility of the tests according to the requirements presented throughout the cyclist season.
• Maintain relations with the International Olympic Committee for collaboration in organizing everything related to future cycling events in each of the Olympic Games.
• Power and promote the fight against doping in cycling.

Specialties

Under the tutelage of the UCI, the following specialties are grouped:

• Cycling in route
• Cycling on track
• Mountain bike
• Cyclocrós
• BMX
• Trial
• Artistic cycling
• Adapted cycle
• Cyclobol

UCI Hall of Fame

Within the task of preserving the historical heritage of cycling competitions, in 2002 the UCI created the so-called UCI Hall of Fame, in whose Inaugural Session 57 outstanding cyclists of all specialties were paid homage.

Controversies

Types of bicycles

The UCI has been involved in certain controversies associated with its decision to choose the type of bicycles to be used. For example, he decided to abolish the use of recumbent bicycles from April 1, 1934, in addition to hurting Graeme Obree during the 1990s, by not allowing bicycles with frames without seat tubes in 2000..

Doping

The UCI has been involved in several controversial cases over information regarding doping cases, most notably by its doctor Mario Zorzoli who first leaked test results on Lance Armstrong and later became involved in Operation Puerto having the boss of the doping network, Eufemiano Fuentes, different information to contact him.

However, the UCI began its involvement in doping matters in earnest with the Festina case in 1998, which led to a maelstrom of subsequent events. It was one of the first cases in which severe penalties were imposed on the accused. Thus, the Festina team found itself expelled from the Tour de France in which it was participating once doping substances were discovered within the team. In the same way, a series of participating teams were also registered during the Tour de France, including ONCE-Deutsche Bank, Lotto, TVM, Casino and Big Mat.

This circumstance brought a series of reactions, and in solidarity with the teams to which the aforementioned registrations were made, a series of teams participating in the gala round decided to leave at that time: Banesto, Kelme, ONCE-Deutsche Bank, Riso Scotti, Vitalicio Seguros and Saeco. Before finishing the race, the remaining members of the TVM team also decided to abandon the race due to problems that arose in their team with the records of the gendarmerie.

Organization

Patrick McQuaid, former ICU President.

The hierarchical structure of the federation is made up of the president, the general secretary and vice presidents, the Congress (held every year), the Executive Body and the Technical Committees.

The acting chair is David Lappartient from France. Lappartient became president after defeating the previous president, Brian Cookson, in the elections held during the 2017 Bergen World Cup.

Presidents

N.o	Period	Name	Country
1	1900-1922	Emile de Beukelaer	BelgiumBelgium
2	1922-1936	Léon Breton	France
3	1936-1939	Max Burgi	SwitzerlandSwitzerland
4	1939-1947	Alban Collignon	BelgiumBelgium
5	1947–1958	Achille Joinard	France
6	1958-1981	Adriano Rodoni	ItalyItaly
7	1981-1990	Luis Puig	SpainSpain
8	1991-2005	Hein Verbruggen	NetherlandsNetherlands
9	2005–2013	Patrick McQuaid	Ireland
10	2013–2017	Brian Cookson	United KingdomUnited Kingdom
11	2017–	David Lappartient	France

Continental Federations

In 2022, the UCI has the affiliation of 201 national federations divided into 5 continental confederations:

National Federations

Competitions

The UCI organizes the cycling world championships, which administration awards to member countries. The first championships were road and track. Initially, they were allocated to member countries in turns, provided the country was deemed competent and could guarantee ticket sales. A country awarded a championship or a series of championships was required to pay the UCI 30% of ticket revenue from the track and 10% from the road. Of this amount, the UCI kept 30% and gave the rest to the competing nations in proportion to the number of events in which they competed. The highest collection in this prewar era was 600,000 francs in Paris in 1903.

Originally there were five championships: amateur and professional sprint, amateur and professional road race, and professional motor sprint race. Road racing was traditionally a mass start, but it didn't have to be: Britain organized its pre-war road championship as a time trial, as the National Cyclists' Union believed it was better to race against the clock, and without advertising before departure, to avoid the attention of the police. Continental European organizers generally preferred mass races on circuits, fenced all the way or along the finish line to collect entry.

The UCI currently organizes numerous world cycling competitions, including:

• BMX World Cycling Championship
• World Cycling Championship on Route
• World Cycling Championship in Pista
• Mountain Cycling World Championship
• World Cycling Championship in Grava
• World Cycle Championship
• World Cycle Cup

Rainbow leotard

The winner of a UCI World Championship title is awarded a rainbow jersey, white with five colored bands across the chest. This jersey can only be used in the discipline, specialty and competition category in which it was awarded, and it expires the day before the next round of the world championship. Ancient champions may wear rainbow trim on the cuffs and collar of their clothing.

Records

The original records were on the track: without rhythm, with human rhythm and with mechanical rhythm. They were promoted for three classes of bicycles: solo, tandem, and unusual machines such as those now known as recumbents, where the rider rides horizontally. Distances were imperial and metric, from 440 yards and 500 meters to 24 hours. The UCI banned the recumbent bicycle in competitions and record attempts on April 1, 1934. Later changes included restrictions on riding positions. the kind that plagued Graeme Obree in the 1990s and the 2000 ban on all frames without a seat tube.

Bike control

The UCI carries out an exhaustive control of the materials used by the teams for correct compliance with the regulations and fair play. Therefore, a series of verifications must be fulfilled in relation to the following aspects:

• Technical Regulations of ICU
• Control of bicycles against-reloj
• Accessories (compás, plumbing, etc.)

In this way, it is about guaranteeing maximum equality in the practice of cycling so that the cyclist who wins the tests will be so only thanks to his own merits, and not by the help of a machine. Thus, and hand in hand with the principles of the Lugano Charter, the protection of the culture, history and image of cycling is ensured.