The Union Cycliste International today publishes a summary of contributions collected as part of its consultation with stakeholders on the reform of professional road cycling. The complete summary is available on the UCI website.

The publication of this summary follows its presentation to members of the UCI Management Committee during the meeting held from September 20-22 in Montreal, Canada. It had already been presented to members of the Professional Cycling Council earlier in the month.

The consultation, titled "Future of Road Cycling", was launched by the UCI in February 2026. In a letter sent to cyclists, teams and their owners, race organizers, UCI-affiliated national federations and recognized representative associations of organizers, teams and cyclists, the UCI invited each stakeholder to submit, by April 30, their own analysis of the current state of cycling and their vision for the future of professional road cycling for both men and women. Five consultation themes were defined: calendar and participation; the economic model; fan engagement; safety; and results integrity.

The consultation is part of a broader effort to evolve the organizational model of professional road cycling in order to strengthen its long-term appeal. Although the sport today enjoys strong and growing popularity across five continents, its media exposure and revenues generated for stakeholders do not yet fully reflect its potential. The consultative approach underlying this process aims to seize existing opportunities while preserving the historic strengths of the discipline.

The UCI received a total of 55 detailed contributions from across the cycling world: National Federations from various continents, one-day and stage race organizers – from Class 2 to UCI WorldTour – men's and women's teams and their associations, riders and cyclist representatives, as well as equipment manufacturers, broadcasters and commercial sponsors.

The contributions reveal broad consensus on the key issues facing professional road cycling. The following recommendations emerged most frequently:

- develop a more coherent calendar, structured around geographic blocks;
- consolidating commercial and media rights, with a solidarity mechanism to distribute newly generated revenues;
- introduce a financial equity mechanism among professional teams, such as a budget cap or equivalent;
- strengthen the second division and maintain an open and protected pyramid;
- treat safety as non-negotiable, with stricter enforcement of existing requirements;
- continued carefully managed growth of women's cycling;
- modernization of broadcasting and fan engagement;
- improving arbitration through new technologies (VAR, GPS, etc.) and ensuring robust integrity systems.

Safety stands out as the strongest point of convergence among the contributions, with a common call for shared responsibility among organizers, teams and cyclists. This consensus reinforces work already underway for safety through SafeR, the body created by the UCI and major road cycling stakeholders to improve safety in races. This work will continue at its own pace, independent of the reform process.

While the contributions largely agree on the diagnosis, they diverge on details, particularly on what form a financial equity mechanism should take and how much commercial and media rights should be consolidated. These two questions will be at the center of upcoming discussions.

The development of women's cycling, meanwhile, enjoys unanimous support, and the contributions call for continuing its growth at a controlled pace, while strengthening the economics of women's teams and the visibility of the UCI Women's WorldTour.

Various reforms implemented in recent years have helped foster the development of road cycling (internationalization, new events, growth of women's cycling, etc.). The task now is to continue building together on this positive momentum, in a spirit of dialogue and shared responsibility, under the aegis of the UCI.

With the consultation results now known, the UCI will begin in-depth discussions with the various stakeholders and partners involved, in order to propose strategies for building a stronger, more attractive and sustainable model for professional road cycling for both men and women. These initial guidelines will be presented during the UCI Women's WorldTour and UCI WorldTour Seminar, to be held in Benidorm, Spain, on December 9 and 10. Initial measures could be introduced as early as the 2029 season.

UCI President David Lappartient stated: "Road cycling is currently experiencing unprecedented growth. This success comes with responsibilities: identifying new areas of progress and writing the next chapter of our sport together. The first of these responsibilities is safety. It is non-negotiable and will proceed at an even faster pace than other parts of the reform. The result of this consultation is remarkable, both for the diversity and quality of responses received. What unites the different cycling families is far more important than what sometimes divides them. The report presented today lays the foundation for the in-depth and collaborative work that lies ahead as we build a new model for our sport. I warmly thank all those who participated in this consultation and am confident in our continued work together."

Future of Cycling – Stakeholder Consultation on Professional Road Cycling Reform – A Summary of Contributions