UCI has announced yesterday that it will expand Women’s WorldTour events in 2018 with three additional races to the top-level series. They will take place in Spain, China and Belgium.
They added races are:
- Trois Jours de La Panne
- Tour of Guangxi
- Emakumeen Bira
These three additional races bring the total number of events to 23 and the days of racing for next season to 52.
The women’s Trois Jours de La Panne which will take place in Belgium’s West Flanders region is planned to take place on March 22, 2018, the same time when the men’s Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde tour will also take place.
On the other hand, the Tour of Guangxi will make its debut this season on October 24, 2017. It is also known as the UCI 1.1-ranked event, part of the UCI’s partnership with Wanda Sports. This partnership also includes the Gree-Tour of Guangxi, the newest men’s WorldTour stage race which will also take place on October 19 until 24.
While the Emakumeen Bira race which has more than 30 years that has taken placebecoming one of the first premiere stage races on the women’s calendar will as usual bridge the month-long space between the OVO Energy Women’s Tour and the Amgen women’s race.
The UCI vice-president and president of the UCI Women’s Commission, Tracey Gaudry, made sure to highlight all the achievements that the Women’s WorldTour has made so far.
“All these developments show the scale of progress we are now seeing in women’s road cycling with three new events coming to complement the already established global narrative of the UCI Women’s WorldTour, greater broadcast exposure and social media cut-through. A huge amount has been achieved over the past two seasons in collaboration with race organisers, teams, riders, partners and media. I’m confident that this journey of progress will continue in the season ahead.”- added Gaudry.
UCI Women’s WorldTour 2018 official calendar
3 March: Strade Bianche (Italy)
11 March: Women’s WorldTour Ronde Van Drenthe (the Netherlands)
18 March: Trofeo Binda – Comune di Cittiglio (Italy)
22 March: Trois Jours de La Panne (Belgium)
25 March: Gent Wevelgem in Flanders Fields (Belgium)
1 April: Tour of Flanders (Belgium)
15 April: Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition (the Netherlands)
18 April: La Flèche Wallonne Féminine (Belgium)
22 April: Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes (Belgium)
4-6 May: Tour of Chongming Island UCI Women’s WorldTour (China)
10-13 May: Amgen Breakaway from Heart Disease Women’s Race empowered with SRAM (USA)
19-22 May: WWT Emakumeen XXXI. Bira (Spain)
13-17 June: OVO Energy Women’s Tour (Great Britain)
6-15 July: Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile (Italy)
26 July (TBC): La Course by Le Tour de France (France)
28 July: Prudential RideLondon Classique (Great Britain)
10 August: Crescent Vårgårda TTT (Sweden)
12 August: Crescent Vårgårda (Sweden)
16-19 August: Ladies Tour of Norway (Norway)
25 August: GP de Plouay – Lorient Agglomération (France)
28 August-2 September: Boels Ladies Tour (the Netherlands)
16 September: Madrid Challenge by la Vuelta (Spain)
21 October: Tour of Guanxi Women’s WorldTour (China)
