UCI Road World Championships

All the world championship events are ridden by national teams, not trade teams such as in most other major races. The winner of each category is entitled to wear the rainbow jersey in races of that category (either mass start or time trial) until the next championships. It currently includes the following championships:

• Elite Men's road race
• Elite Men's time trial
• Under-23 Men's road race
• Under-23 Men's time trial
• Junior Men's road race
• Junior Men's time trial
• Elite Women's road race
• Elite Women's time trial
• Junior Women's road race
• Junior Women's time trial
• Mixed team relay

Former events:

• Men's amateur road race
• Men's team time trial
• Women's team time trial

The first world championships took place in 1921, though the only event that was contested was the Men's Road Race for Amateurs.[1] The first professional world championship took place in July 1927 at the Nürburgring in Germany where Italian Alfredo Binda won the professional men's race and Belgian Jean Aerts won the men's amateur race. The women's road race was introduced in 1958. A men's team time trial, contested by national teams, was introduced in 1962. Beginning in 1972, the team time trial was discontinued in Olympic years only. Individual time trials in all categories were added in 1994, which was also the last year for the original incarnation of the men's team time trial. In 2012, the men's team time trial was reinstated, and a women's team time trial added to the program; both were contested by trade teams. In 2019, the team time trial events for men and women will be replaced by a mixed relay team time trial.

Until 1995, there were separate races for male professional and amateur riders. In 1996, the amateur category was replaced with a category for men under-23 years old with the professional category becoming an open (later elite) category.

Since 1995, the race has been held towards the end of the European season in late September, usually following the Vuelta a España. Before that, the event had always been a summer race, held in late August or the first week of September (with the exception of 1970, when it was a mid-season summer event).

The world championships are located in a different city or region every year. The event can be held over a relatively flat course which favors cycling sprinters or a hilly course which favors a climbing specialist or all-round. In each case the course is usually held on a circuit of which the riders complete multiple laps.

The world championship road race and two of the three Grand Tours (namely the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France) form the Triple Crown of Cycling.

Updated after 2020 Championships.

Medal table includes only medals achieved in senior events. Mixed nation team events such as the Team Time Trial from 2012 to 2018 are excluded.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Italy (ITA)	52	47	42	141
2	Belgium (BEL)	38	30	29	97
3	Netherlands (NED)	35	30	27	92
4	France (FRA)	33	30	30	93
5	Switzerland (SUI)	15	22	20	57
6	United States (USA)	14	14	13	41
7	Germany (GER)	13	17	20	50
8	Great Britain (GBR)	13	11	12	36
9	Soviet Union (URS)	12	16	16	44
10	East Germany (GDR)	10	2	4	16
11	Spain (ESP)	9	13	16	38
12	Sweden (SWE)	9	5	7	21
13	Denmark (DEN)	7	11	9	27
14	Poland (POL)	7	7	3	17
15	Australia (AUS)	6	11	6	23
16	West Germany (FRG)	4	4	5	13
17	Russia (RUS)	4	4	4	12
18	Lithuania (LTU)	3	3	5	11
19	Slovakia (SVK)	3	1	0	4
20	Norway (NOR)	2	2	4	8
21	Belarus (BLR)	2	0	1	3
22	Luxembourg (LUX)	1	3	4	8
23	New Zealand (NZL)	1	2	2	5
24	Ukraine (UKR)	1	2	1	4
25	Ireland (IRL)	1	1	3	5
26	Latvia (LAT)	1	1	0	2
27	Colombia (COL)	1	0	3	4
28	Portugal (POR)	1	0	0	1
29	Canada (CAN)	0	3	3	6
30	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	0	2	2	4
31	Austria (AUT)	0	1	2	3
32	Hungary (HUN)	0	1	1	2
	Slovenia (SLO)	0	1	1	2
34	Brazil (BRA)	0	1	0	1
35	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	0	0	2	2
36	Czech Republic (CZE)	0	0	1	1
	Finland (FIN)	0	0	1	1
	Uruguay (URU)	0	0	1	1
Totals (38 nations)		298	298	300	896

• Belgium at the UCI Road World Championships
• Germany at the UCI Road World Championships
• Italy at the UCI Road World Championships
• Lithuania at the UCI Road World Championships
• Netherlands at the UCI Road World Championships
• New Zealand at the UCI Road World Championships
• Spain at the UCI Road World Championships
• United States at the UCI Road World Championships

• UCI World Championships