How the UCI World Cycling Centre is aiming to globalise cycling

We speak to WCC Director Jacques Landry on the UCI's approach to developing cycling around the world

Biniam Girmay was one of the final male riders at the WCC before the men’s programme closed. Image: A.S.O./Charly Lopez

Cycling is a sport steeped in European history and tradition. Belgium, Italy, France and other European nations have dominated this sport and littered it with culture and tradition that go back a century or more. Names such as Merkcx, Longo, Hinault and Vos rule cycling's hall of fame, reinforcing the long hold that Europe has had at the elite level. The UCI would like to change that for future generations.

In recent decades, wealthy global north countries have made inroads. The USA, Australia and others now boast world champions and grand tour winners, but their success came with great difficulty at first as their pioneers broke through established cultural barriers. If you look at the make-up of the peloton now compared to thirty or forty years ago, you would see a level of globalisation. British riders, Americans, Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders and some South American countries are now commonplace thanks to years of development.

Read more: 'Biniam will be remembered forever' -Tsgabu Grmay on what Girmay's Tour de France success means to African cycling

Cycling's governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale, wants to go further in the sport's globalisation. They have long held ambitions to make cycling a truly global sport, welcoming stars from Africa, Asia and other parts of the world yet untouched.

That's why the UCI created the World Cycling Centre (WCC) in 2002. Based out of the UCI headquarters in Aigle, Switzerland, the WCC wants "to see more and more, dare I say it, non-Europeans getting on the podium, being noticed," WCC Director Jacques Landry tells me over video call. “Not only in road cycling, but also BMX freestyle, mountain bike, those Olympics and I would say the Paralympic events as well.”