2019 Pro Race Calendar and iCal

Happy New Year? Who knows what 2019 will bring? Actually some things are predictable and here’s the pro cycling calendar for your organiser, phone or computer diary so you can at least know when the big races will happen. All of the major UCI men’s and women’s pro races around the world are included and below there’s a quick explainer on how to subscribe, the meaning of the UCI labels and more.

If you want to look at the calendar from time to time just go to inrng.com/calendar and there is a permanent link to this calendar page at the top of the home page (mobile users: tap “menu” at the top of the page for the drop down menu and then > 2019 calendar).

Better still you want the full calendar on your own device or diary then you can subscribe for free and have every race on your agenda.

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/phvkufc0v823qkio9ml4mdtpug%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 push and 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

Google Calendar: If you use Google Calendar then click on the +GoogleCalendar 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.

Direct download: The previous methods are best as any additions, deletions and amendments to the calendar will be quietly pushed to your diary or device. This is particularly useful because for now a lot of races are missing and if you subscribe then once they’re published by the UCI and added to the calendar you’ll get them added to your calendar by magic….if you can’t or don’t want to do the above, you can download the iCal file for your organiser, phone, computer and other devices from here

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/phvkufc0v823qkio9ml4mdtpug%40group.calendar.google.com/public/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 inrng.com/calendar to download an updated version now and then to get any amendments and corrections.

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 Teams, the squads in cycling’s second tier. But it’s not so simple and for the “new” races added to the World Tour since 2018, 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 Tour of the Alps 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 Teams 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 Teams, 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 elect to race these or not and the remaining spaces go to other women’s teams as well as national squads
• 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

Calendar FAQs

• “Why are the races listed as all day events?” – It’s impossible today to know today the starting time and 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 to 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 additions, deletions and amendments that will inevitable happen so it’s all or nothing
• “I subscribed to your 2018 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. Deleting last year’s subscription and subscribing anew should take you as much time as it took to read this bullet point
• “The date for such-and-such race is wrong“. The UCI calendar is provisional plus it’s possible something gets mangled during the data entry process. If you spot a change or a typo please email in and it can be fixed for everyone