UCI Women's WorldTour

UCI Women's World Tour

Current season, competition or edition: 2016 UCI Women's World Tour
Sport	Road bicycle racing
Founded	2016
Country	Europe, USA and China

The UCI Women's WorldTour is the premier annual female elite road cycling tour.

The leader of the Women's World Tour has the right to wear this leaders jersey

History

In order to increase the coverage of Women's cycling the UCI held a summit in December 2014 between the UCI Women’s Working Group and the UCI Women's teams. The previous racing series, the UCI Women's Road World Cup, limited racing to 10 one-day events whilst the proposed Women's World Tour will see a threefold increase in the total number of racing days.^[1][2]

In order to facilitate this a proposal was forwarded to split the single tiered UCI Women's team classification, into a two tiered system beginning in 2017. The premier division would consist of 10 teams who, like their male counterparts, will be required to compete in all World Tour events with the second tier being similar to domestic men's teams (UCI Continental Teams). Initially the rankings will be based on the teams UCI rankings.^[3]

One requirement of the series is that all rounds are to be broadcast on live TV or via streaming with race organisers creating media pages for each event in English and/or French.^[4][5]

For one-day races teams must consist of up to six riders, with no fewer than four and for stage races, seven or eight with no fewer than five.^[6] Minimum prize money will also be included; €5130 for one day races or time trials and €2565 per day for a stage race.

In comparison to the one-day race only World Cup the Women’s WorldTour will include stage races as well as one-day races increasing the total number of race days to between 30 and 35. Events will also see an increase in the maximum distance which can be covered: from 130 to 140 kilometres for a one-day race and average stage race stage distance increasing from 100 to 120 kilometres. Race organisers are allowed to apply for special dispensation to have longer stages.^[6]

For events to be considered they must have reached the following criteria:^[5]

• UCI Class 1 Road status
• Dates of candidate events must not clash with existing Women's World Cup and Class 1 events
• Dates and locations of candidate events must fit with the narrative of the season whilst also providing some logic for the travel of teams

Winners by race

Lizzie Armitstead and Katarzyna Niewiadoma pictured here at the start of the 2016 La Flèche Wallonne Féminine. Note, the distinctive classification leaders jerseys.

Races in the UCI Women's World Tour

Race	2016
Strade Bianche	Lizzie Armitstead (GBR) (1/3)
Ronde van Drenthe	Chantal Blaak (NED) (1/2)
Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio	Lizzie Armitstead (GBR) (2/3)
Gent–Wevelgem	Chantal Blaak (NED) (2/2)
Tour of Flanders	Lizzie Armitstead (GBR) (3/3)
La Flèche Wallonne Féminine	Anna van der Breggen (NED) (1/1)
Tour of Chongming Island
Amgen Tour of California
Philadelphia International Cycling Classic
The Women's Tour
Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile
Women's Tour de Pologne
La Course by Le Tour de France
Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix
Crescent Women World Cup Vårgårda TTT
Crescent Women World Cup Vårgårda
GP de Plouay
Madrid Challenge by la Vuelta
Source[7][8]

References

1. "UCI Women Get Upgraded to WorldTour Status for 2016". bicycling.com.
2. "New WorldTour part of a shake-up of women's road racing - Cycling Weekly". Cycling Weekly. 12 March 2015.
3. "Women’s WorldTour, two-tiered system amongst changes proposed by UCI Women’s Working Group". cyclingtips.com.au.
4. "UCI Women's Racing - Bicycling". bicycling.com.
5. http://rfec.com/sites/default/files/WomenWorldTour-Guia-ingles.PDF
6. Sadhbh O'Shea and Kirsten Frattini. "2016 Women's WorldTour: Rules, organizers' requirements and live broadcasting". Cyclingnews.com.
7. "Road - Calendar".
8. Cycling News. "Tour de Pologne to host women's WorldTour race". Cyclingnews.com.