Pro Race Calendar Reminder

Loyal readers might be familiar with the calendar but with the season in full swing there are many more readers so if you missed the posts about it during the off-season, here’s a reminder you can get a pro cycling calendar for your organiser, phone or computer diary with all the major UCI men’s and women’s pro races around the world included. Below there’s a quick explainer on how to subscribe, the meaning of the UCI labels and more.

All of the major UCI men’s and women’s pro races around the world are included. Some races might move dates and sadly others might vanish too.

There is a permanent link to the calendar at the top of the inrng.com home page if you just want to visit from time to time (mobile users: tap “menu” at the top of the page for the drop down menu and then > 2018 calendar) . If you want the full calendar to keep then you can download the iCal file.

iCal
An iCal is a calendar file that you can store on your phone or electronic diary like Outlook. There are several ways to get this on to your computer or phone.

Subscribe and get automatic updates: The recommended option is to subscribe by copying the iCal URL:

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/cqi1iv6r97mhgcf5tjmj1fg5s0%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics

• If you use MacOS copy the URL… and open the Calendar app. Then got to File > New Calendar Subscription…) and paste in the link and you’re done
• iPhone/iPad users should hold down a finger here , wait for the pop up message and select “Copy”. Then on your device go to Settings > Accounts and Passwords > Add account > Other > Add Subscribed Calendar and paste in the URL
• If you use Microsoft Outlook, copy the URL and then go to Tools > Account Settings > Internet Calendars and paste the URL to subscribe

All these methods above are the best because any additions, deletion and amendments will automatically be pushed to your diary or device.

Subscribe and any changes will be fed through automatically.

Direct download: if you can’t do the above, you can download the iCal file for your organiser, phone, computer and other devices from here

google.com/calendar/ical/…/basic.ics

Right-click to save the ics / iCal / iCalendar file and you can import it into your electronic diary. If you have trouble with the subscription then this is an easier option but it means you’re saving today’s version of the calendar and you might want to return to this page to download a new version a few times a year in order to get the amendments and corrections.
Google Calendar: If you use Google Calendar then click on the icon on the bottom-right of the calendar up at the top of the page. Note this method can work with Android phones when the iCal file might not although you might need the Google Sync calendar app.

Calendar Labels Explained
Each race is listed along with its location and UCI status eg World Tour, 1.1 or 2.HC.

• Any race with the 1. prefix is a one day race; any race with the 2. prefix is a stage race
• WT means World Tour and includes all the prime races on the calendar, from the three grand tours (Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, Vuelta a España) to the one day classics like Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders and Il Lombardia, as well as others like the Tour of Poland or the Tour Down Under and can be anywhere in the world. Normally all 18 UCI men’s WorldTeams must ride and organisers may invite UCI Pro Continental Teams. But it’s not so simple and for the “new” races added to the World Tour in 2017 the WorldTeams are invited but don’t all have to ride. Confused? You’re not alone.

After this come races in different races that are grouped by region, with the UCI Asia Tour, UCI America Tour, UCI Africa Tour and UCI Oceania Tour and UCI Europe Tour. The bulk of races on the calendar above are in Europe with races like Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, the Giro del Trentino or the Tour of Denmark but we also find races like the Herald Sun Tour, the Tour de Langkawi and the Japan Cup.

• *.HC is the next level down and up to 70% of the teams may come from the UCI Pro Teams but UCI Pro Continental and UCI Continental teams can be invited as well as the local national team
• *.1 is another step down where up to 50% of the teams can be UCI Pro Team with the rest from Pro Continental, Continental and also national teams
• There are also *.2, U23 and criteriums but these races are excluded to keep the calendar concise and focus on the top pro races around the world

Women’s Race labels

• WWT is the the Women’s World Tour. Unlike the men’s World Tour there’s no set quota of teams who must participate, instead the top-20 teams on the rankings in early January must be invited for one day races and the top-15 for stage races. It is then up to the teams to respond whether they’d like to ride. WWT races can invite national teams
• 1.1W and 2.1W are women’s one day and women’s stage races where the field is made up of women’s teams, national teams as well as regional or club teams

FAQ

• “Why are the races listed as all day events?” – It’s impossible to know today whether a race is slated to finish at, say, 4pm or 5.15pm so there’s no point guessing the precise slot, it’s easier to list them as all day events
• “Help, my phone rings at midnight with an alert” – by default notifications are turned off but check your device settings too once you’ve subscribed avoid being alerted in the middle of the night
• “I only want the World Tour races“, “I don’t want the women’s races” etc: some readers email in special requests it’s hard to accommodate every view and offer 12 versions with and without different races, let alone maintain them all with the inevitable additions, deletions and amendments that happen during the year so it’s all or nothing
• “I subscribed to your 2017 calendar, can’t you just add next year’s races to save me from subscribing again?” This is possible but it means you’d end up with a diary with hundreds of dormant entries from the past. It’s lighter on data and faster to do it year by year and subscribing anew hopefully takes you as much time as it took to read this bullet point
• “The date for such-and-such race is wrong“. If you spot a change or a mistake please email in and it can be fixed for everyone