What are the levels of pro cycling?
Often we get asked what the levels of pro cycling are. Some of the typical questions being: What does UWT means? What a UCI 2.1 race is? What a UCI C2 race is?
We wrote a guide on the topic here:
Pro Cycling Bets
But we'll summarize quickly with the following image - you'll note the prefix denotes the length of the race, with the suffix denoting the level or calibre of rider able to race.
We'll use the above questions as examples
What does UWT mean?
UWT stands for UCI World Tour and is a difficulty level assigned to the race. It would be a suffix of the above race categorization and you'll either see if with 1.UWT or 2.UWT depending on the event length.
What does UCI mean?
UCI is the Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland. The UCI issues racing licenses to riders (licenses would correspond to the level suffix) and enforces disciplinary rules.
What a UCI 2.1 race is?
Using the prefix and suffix rule above, a 2.1 race refers to a multi day event at the Continental level.
What a UCI C2 race is?
Similarly, a C2 race would be a one day cyclocross event at the '2' level (so riders below continental level). Cyclocross events are never usually multi day events so the prefix is often dropped and it's simply written as C2.
