'I want it to be bigger than the Tour de France': India awarded the 2032 Road World Championships; Dutch forced to wait two more years

The Management Committee decided to award the 2034 UCI Road World and Para-cycling Championships to the Netherlands, Lappartient said. Rather than choosing one proposal and rejecting the other outright, the UCI ultimately found space for both.

At the close of the Congress, Lappartient stated: "The hosts revealed today shape the map of world cycling for the years to come, and I am particularly delighted that India will host the UCI Road World Championships for the first time, in 2032."

Pune, around 120km southeast of Mumbai, emerged as a contender comparatively late in the bidding process. Maninder Pal Singh, secretary general of the Cycling Federation of India (CFI), told The Athletic that their bid for Worlds took shape earlier in the summer, well after the UCI's normal December 31 deadline.

The bid followed the inaugural Bajaj Pune Grand Tour, a UCI 2.2 stage race held in Maharashtra in January 2026. The event was India's first UCI-sanctioned multi-stage road race and formed part of a broader attempt to establish the region as a major international cycling centre. Luke Mudgway was crowned winner of the first edition.

Lappartient praised the progress directly: "The report on the Bajaj Pune Grand Tour presented to the UCI Management Committee by the delegation led by Pune District Collector Mr Jitendra Dudi is extremely encouraging. Cycling continues to develop in new territories where it has the potential to become a leading sport. India is a country where our sport has a bright future, thanks to the commitment and enthusiasm of key stakeholders."

Jitendra Dudi, District Collector of Pune, called it "a defining moment for Pune and the result of a shared vision between the Government of Maharashtra and the Cycling Federation of India." Singh added: "For Indian cycling, this is an opportunity to move from participation to performance and from hosting international races to becoming a part of cycling's global conversation. I'm not talking about an event like the Tour de France - I want it to be bigger than the Tour de France".

The 2032 championships will be the first Road Worlds held in India and continue the UCI's recent expansion of its biggest annual road event beyond its traditional European heartland. Utsunomiya, Japan hosted the race in 1990, but Asia did not get another chance until Doha, Qatar in 2016. Rwanda became the first African nation to host in 2025, with a highly selective course in Kigali. Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates have already been awarded the 2028 edition, making India the fourth host on the Asian continent.

In the last five editions, the Road World Championships have travelled from Wollongong, Australia (2022), to Glasgow, Scotland (2023), Zurich, Switzerland (2024), Kigali, Rwanda (2025) and Montreal, Canada (2026). The 2027 UCI Cycling World Championships will take place in Haute-Savoie, France, while Abu Dhabi hosts in 2028, Denmark in 2029, Brussels in 2030, and Trentino, Italy in 2031, before arriving in Pune in 2032.

The world road cycling championships are returning to the Netherlands for the first time in more than 20 years after Groningen and Drenthe secured the 2034 edition. The last time the Worlds were staged in the Netherlands was in 2012, when the event was held in Valkenburg, Limburg.

"It's brilliant that this is happening, it's really a dream," said Bauke Mollema, the Groningen-born Tour de France veteran who acted as ambassador for the Dutch bid. "As a northerner, I learned to cycle on the roads of Groningen and Drenthe."

The exact dates and route for 2034 still have to be worked out, but the Vamberg, or "Col du Vam," a 63-metre-high artificial hill made of piled-up domestic rubbish from the Randstad, is certain to feature prominently. The bid has been underwritten with €20 million from Nij Begun, a fund set up to rebuild Groningen and northern Drenthe following the earthquakes caused by gas drilling.

The 195th Congress of the UCI was held in Montreal as part of the 2026 UCI Road World Championships taking place in the city from 20 to 27 September, bringing together representatives of 117 member National Federations from five continents. In total, 19 championships across 11 countries were awarded.