The UCI seems to have perfectly assimilated the IOC's recommendations on diversity in high-level sport. Meeting in Innsbruck, Austria, on the sidelines of the 2018 Road World Championships, its steering committee decided to introduce a new event, a mixed time trial relay, starting at the 2019 Road Cycling World Championships in Yorkshire , in Great Britain. Reserved for national teams, this mixed relay will be contested by 6 runners – 3 men then 3 women – from the under-23 and Elite categories. It will replace the time trial contested by teams registered with the UCI, part of the road World Championships program since 2012, the last edition of which took place this week in Innsbruck. The team ranking will be determined by the time of the second female finisher. Men and women will both complete a lap of an identical circuit. Its first edition, next year in Yorkshire, will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Definitely very focused on the feminization of cycling, the UCI steering committee also decided to create a new division, that of the UCI Women's WorldTeams, the women's counterpart of the UCI WorldTeams for men. These new first division teams will appear in 2020. The UCI Women’s WorldTeams status will notably give these teams the right to participate in all UCI Women’s WorldTour events. Finally, the UCI will introduce a minimum salary for their riders, as well as rigorous control of all athletes' contracts via the registration of these contracts by a financial audit and consulting firm, based on the model of what exists already for the men's professional peloton.
