UCI plans to reform World Tour Calendar in 2026 - "There will be a bit fewer races"

After some critics in the pass it appears that the UCI is going to reform and reprogram the World Tour calendar in men's cycling from 2026.

The UCI director of sport, Peter Van den Abeele, announced that the organization will thoroughly reform the program from that season year.

"We are not going to allow any more overlap in the men's calendar. That's not going to be obvious, and will also be some fewer races," stated Van den Abeele to the podcast Cross van Play Sports.

This reforms are the result of many meetings with stakeholders at the top of men's cycling, organizers, teams and the riders union CPA that took path in recent years, tough things really moved forward over 2022 year.

"This year we had a lot of talks to reform road cycling, on the initiative of the UCI and the teams. Those talks were led by Richard Plugge (Jumbo-Visma) and Patrick Lefevere (Quick-Step - Alpha Vinyl Team). We did a lot of meetings about TV rights, improving the product of cycling and rearranging the calendar. That was from a white sheet", Van den Abeele said.

Besides that, UCI will also institute a mandatory course for safety managers with every organizer of the WorldTour and ProSeries races having to do that. A safety measure that will be done in cooperation with the One Cycling project.

"We want to guarantee safety more. We will start a training course for safety managers at the UCI. Every organizer of the WorldTour or ProSeries has to attend a mandatory course with us in January or February. Those will be trained with us. That takes three days and is an obligation", said the UCI director of sport.