UCI World Cycling Centre Director Jacques Landry says that the new initiative aims to give riders from emerging nations the tools to succeed.
Cor Vos
The Union Cycliste Internationale has long held an ambition to see the sport of cycling globalise in all its disciplines. It is the role of the UCI’s World Cycling Centre – opened in 2002 – to make that goal come to fruition. As the latest step, WCC is primed to launch its ‘Global 2028’ initiative, which it hopes will be a catalyst to developing the next generation of stars from Africa, Asia and Central and South America.
The programme builds upon a previous project known as ‘Africa 2025,’ which sought to invest in the development of young African riders ahead of the continent’s first World Championships in Kigali last year. Global 2028, which is the project’s working title, “extends this vision to a global scale,” according to a UCI statement released earlier this year.
After a period of talent identification, the WCC will hold a series of training camps in Brittany, northern France, where six women and six men from around the world will be coached in a high-performance environment and take part in the competitive and varied Breton racing scene. Each camp is set to last for three months, with the first running from May to July and another beginning shortly after with a new set of riders and ending ahead of the Road World Championships in Montreal, September 20-27. Further camps will be organised over the following two years building up to the conclusion of the programme at the 2028 Road World Championships in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
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Riders in the programme will come from what the UCI terms “emerging nations,” which are less-represented countries in the higher levels of the sport. These nations make up around 75% of those within the UCI’s jurisdiction. The WCC has appointed a talent scout to attend Continental Championships in Africa, Asia and South America over the past six months in order to select 12 riders for the first training camp.
Creating a pathway
“The ultimate goal is basically having them come through our programme and then move upward, move upward up the pathway,” Jacques Landry, World Cycling Centre director told Escape Collective. “[We are working to] identify athletes, develop them and put them on teams elsewhere and then we can pick up other ones afterwards.”
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