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It seems that no idea is off the table for the UCI in its bold plan to shake up the pro cycling calendar in 2026.
UCI chief David Lappartient hinted to Direct Vélo this week that a revised race-schedule for the future could feature cobbled classics in the fall, different dates for the Vuelta a España and Tour Down Under, and innovative new race formats.
“We were forced to organize the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in October during COVID. The audiences were fantastic. I’m not saying we necessarily have to do it again, but it’s not prohibited,” Lappartient told Direct Vélo on Friday.
The UCI has big plans to reshape pro cycling and create a more sustainable and audience-friendly sport.
The first year of a revised calendar could come in 2026 to coincide with the next round of WorldTour promotion / relegation.
“We’ll no longer allow overlapping races, and there will be fewer races,” UCI director of sport Peter van den Abeele said late last year. “This year we’ve had many conversations about reforming road cycling on the initiative of the UCI and the teams.”
Van den Abeele and Lappartient’s vision was outlined last winter in the UCI’s “2030 Agenda”, and intends to make racing safer, easier to follow, and less damaging to the environment.
A condensed, eco-friendly structure would include grouping geographically-proximate races into certain parts of the calendar, and instilling a driving narrative into what is currently a haphazard string of races.
“Rather than going five-six times a year to a country, let’s do it over a more collected period,” Lappartient said.
The UCI and grand tour organizers have come under increased pressure to “clean up” in recent seasons.
Mammoth intra-race transfers in grand tours, the pollutants choked out in motor convoys, and the massive air-miles amassed by racers have all come under scrutiny.
Lappartient intends to put at least some of that right with his revision of road racing.
“It is absolutely necessary to avoid being in the Netherlands then in the south of Spain and then going back to England. We are too fidgety in Europe,” he said.
“The period of the northern classics is magnificent. The riders are in Flanders for three weeks and don’t move. It’s good for everyone.”
No race is safe – Except the Tour
Lappartient hinted he’s open to all ideas for his new-look race schedule.
Swapping October’s Il Lombardia with April’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège was suggested, as was a reshuffle of races that typically suffer with extreme weather.
“There are heatwaves in Australia in January [during Tour Down Under – ed]. The Vuelta a España in mid-August is not easy either. This is a factor to take into account in the rearrangement of the calendar,” Lappartient said.
But fear not, bike racing fans. The money-spinning, fan-grabbing, Netflix-friendly Tour de France remains sacrosanct.
“Shortening the Tour de France with the impact it has on our sport would be harmful. We would reduce our visibility. It is not at all in our interest,” Lappartient told Direct Vélo. “On the other hand, there is no question of increasing the duration as some are asking.”
The UCI proposed in its 2030 Agenda that new categories or leagues of racing could be created in 2026.
A muted “UCI Road Champions League” could take the model of the current UCI Track Champions League in its easy-follow, clear-narrative format.
Not all of the governing body’s ideas aren’t totally new however.
Lappartient harkened back to the much-maligned and short-lived Hammer Series organized by Velon, or the super-short, grid-start stage of the 2018 Tour de France.
“I notice that we have few circuit events. A few years ago, the Hammer Series had the merit of showing that there was room for other types of racing,” Lappartient said Friday.
“We don’t have a hill climb. Or what would prevent a short 50 kilometer event with a bumpy finish? There would be a spectacle.”
Nothing has yet been confirmed about the 2026 calendar.
But don’t be surprised if it looks a little different.