What are UCI Race Categorizations? (1.Pro vs. 1.UWT vs. 2.UWT)?
At first it may seem a little daunting when pundits refer to races as 1.Pro or a World Tour race. What do all the terms mean?
In super simple terms it can be broken down into the following diagram
Where the race categorization is split into two parts (and sometimes three but it's rare and we'll discuss that at the end).
The first number refers to the length of the race and it's either a 1 or a 2. 1 refers to a one day race. Think of classics or monuments like Milan San Remo. If it's a 2 it's a multi day stage race. Think Paris-Nice or the Tour de France.
The second section is either a code (which may be a number) and generally falls within the following five codes:
- UWT -> World Tour Teams
- WWT -> Women's World Tour Teams
- Pro -> Pro Teams
- 1 -> Continental Teams
- 2 -> Basically Everyone 🙃
This section indicates the difficulty or calibre of teams that are allowed in the race. Remember, that just because a race is labelled UWT, doesn't mean that all the teams competing will be World Tour Teams. Most times there are wild card slots that are held for stand out teams from the level below the labelled calibre.
So for example, while Paris-Nice is a 2.UWT race, there's generally two to four slots open to Pro teams to compete in the race. It often happens that these wild card slots are given to Pro teams that originate from the country of origin of the race (so Cofidis, a French team, is often given a wild card slot as Paris-Nice is a French race)
Finally, there may be a third section appended on to the end of the second section. This third section is generally a U, XC, or C where the terms indicate the following:
- U -> A Under-23 race (ages of riders <= 23)
- XC -> Mountain Biking race (roughly speaking)
- C -> Cyclocross race
There's a few more terms and nuances but this generally covers the ones you'll see most often, and should fully cover all that betting markets offer.
