UCI maintains current calendar and rejects ONE Cycling project: "Lacked sporting coherence"

The big bosses from cycling’s world governing body met this week in Arzon, France, where they finalized the WorldTour calendars for 2026, 2027, and 2028. Only one change was made: Dwars door Vlaanderen for women has been granted WorldTour status. Otherwise, the calendar, from the Tour Down Under in January to the Tour of Guangxi in October, will remain unchanged for the next three years. New potential WorldTour events will only be considered again for 2029.

In recent months, much attention has been given to the OneCycling project. Backed by rumored Saudi investors, the project aimed to revolutionize professional cycling with the support of major teams, including Visma | Lease a Bike, by restructuring the calendar, financial distribution, and overall budget management of the sport.

"While welcoming the fact that road cycling is attracting new investors, the UCI Management Committee nevertheless unanimously decided, following the PCC's vote in this direction, not to respond to the request, as it stands, to include the OneCycling project in the UCI Women's WorldTour and UCI WorldTour calendars.", the UCI stated.

"The project, which had been developed by certain teams and organisers, in collaboration with a sports investment fund, was deemed incompatible with the governance and regulatory framework of the UCI as well as lacking sporting coherence.," said the organization led by David Lappartient. A.S.O., which organizes the Tour de France, was also not in favor of the initiative.

"However, the UCI wishes, as do all cycling’s stakeholders, to continue discussions with the representatives of this project in order to collaborate on the internationalisation of the UCI Women's WorldTour and UCI WorldTour calendars and the economic development of our sport.", the statement concluded.

Several other decisions were made during the meeting. “With regard to team participation in UCI WorldTour events and following the decision taken last March to add a 23rd team to the grand tours, the UCI Management Committee has decided, on the recommendation of the PCC, that from 2026 onwards, Grand Tour organisers must invite the three top UCI ProTeams in addition to the 18 UCI WorldTeams and the two teams to which they award a wild card,” the UCI announced.

"The invitation of the three best UCI ProTeams will also apply to all UCI WorldTour stage races. The three best UCI ProTeams from the previous year will thus have access to all events on the UCI WorldTour calendar,” the UCI stated. Additionally, thanks to the SafeR initiative, new safety measures have been designed, which will be announced at a later date.

“Furthermore, beginning with the 2027 season, a new points system will be introduced that allows road teams to earn a specific number of points based on their riders’ results in events from other disciplines,” the UCI concluded.