UCI will award rainbow jerseys, medals to U23 women at 2022 Wollongong Road Worlds

On Saturday, the UCI announced that U23 women will finally be afforded medals, rainbow jerseys and World Champion status at road cycling World Championships, starting this September in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. However, the U23 women will still be in the elite women’s road race and time trial, with separate races by 2025 in Kigali, Rwanda.

The decision was made at a UCI meeting in Montreux, Switzerland, which started on February 10.

In a press release, the UCI said, “As a transitional measure for the 2022, 2023 and 2024 UCI Road World Championships, for technical and logistical reasons and due to commitments already made, the women’s races will include both the Elite Women and Under 23 Women categories, and two titles will be awarded at the end of the events. From the 2025 edition, which will be held in Kigali (Rwanda), a separate event will be organised for athletes in the Women Under 23 category.”

Not everyone was thrilled by the decision.

TL;DR Nothing changes. UCI will still stupidly reward the Women's U23 WC titles in the Elite WC & ITT the next 3 years.

As previously explained, this creates a completely unfair playing fields for federations, and U23 riders will be limited by their Elite-level team tactics https://t.co/eIFLWxsZpU

— Benji Naesen (@BenjiNaesen) February 12, 2022

UCI wants equality but can’t make room for a separate u23 road race for another three years.

Maybe just cancel the mixed relay that no national cycling union nor riders are keen on https://t.co/vkQfTp8HFa

— José Been (@TourDeJose) February 12, 2022