Brussels to host the 2030 UCI Road World Championships

This afternoon, during the 2024 UCI Road and Para-cycling Road World Championships in Zurich, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announced the host cities for the 2029, 2030 and 2031 UCI Road World Championships. Brussels can get ready for an amazing cycling festival in 2030 when, after nine years, the battle for the rainbow jersey returns to Belgium.

Cycling fans and everyone who was there in 2021 still remember how big the cycling festival was during Flanders 2021. The Grand Départ (2019) in Brussels also sparked a massive cycling party. With the news this afternoon, everyone wanting to experience such a day again has something to look forward to.

It was no coincidence that Brussels put itself forward to host the 2030 UCI Road World Championships, as the capital city of the ultimate cycling nation, the hometown of Eddy Merckx and Remco Evenepoel and the headquarters of the European Union. After all, in 2030, Belgium will be 200 years old. No better way to celebrate the country that is the home of cycling.

Benoit Hellings, Alderman for Sport of the City of Brussels: “Cycling is in Belgium’s DNA, and Brussels will once again become the capital of cycling during our country’s 200th anniversary. Brussels residents will be proud to welcome the world’s biggest cycling festival. We thank the UCI for its confidence in our ambitious project and are already looking forward to seeing Lotte Kopecky, Ewoud Vromant and Remco Evenepoel cycling through the streets of Brussels in September 2030!”

Flanders Classics, with its experience as co-organiser of the 2021 UCI Road World Championships and the recent European Championships in Limburg, can now start gearing up for Brussels 2030.

Tomas Van Den Spiegel, on behalf of asbl Worlds Brussels 2030: "We are deeply honoured to be part of such a prestigious project. In 2021, the World Championships celebrated its 100th anniversary, and in 2030, we will be celebrating Belgium’s 200th anniversary. Once again, it will be a cycling festival with a touch of gold. One that will showcase our capital, our country and our traditions, both on and off the bicycle. In fact, our organisation already visits the capital every year with the Brussels Cycling Classic. So Brussels is not uncharted territory for us. We have been working closely with the city for many years and are greatly looking forward to continuing this partnership and to putting our weight behind Brussels 2030 together."

Six years is still a long time to wait. Cycling fans will therefore have to be patient. Now that the candidature has been confirmed, the organisation is already starting work on the course. More announcements about this will follow at a later stage.