UWCT Final, Aalborg, Denmark

Paul Horta-Hopkins

The 2015 UWCT Final, Aalborg, Denmark

The culmination of the UCI’s World Cycling Tour, was held in the Danish city of Aalborg last September. These amateur and master’s races would climax with riders being awarded UCI rainbow jerseys in the time trial and road race. With almost two thousand riders taking part, in nine different age categories and two genders, that’s a lot of jerseys to hand out.

The city of Aalborg in Northern Denmark was a fantastic venue for the World Championships. Small enough to be cosy and easy to get around, but with enough culture to keep the non-cyclists happy. Aalborg is also a real eye opener for a UK cyclist, used to being, at best, ignored on the roads.

With wide, well planned cycle lanes and drivers that treat cyclists with respect, probably because most of them ride as well, my time riding around this pretty Danish city showed just what can be done when there is a will to make cycling safe and inclusive.

To be honest I had never heard of the UWCT events before, I remembered the good old days, when there were separate world championships for pros and amateurs, but that had all disappeared back in the 90s. As to what had happened to the amateur side of things after that, I had no idea… Read More >