Top 9 Most Famous Bicycle Races in the World

The Tour de France Femmes, formerly known as Tour Cycliste Féminin or Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale, is a women's stage race across France. Organized by Amaury Sport Organisation, the same body behind the Tour de France, it began as a supporting event for the men’s race from 1984 to 1989. In 1990, it evolved into the EEC Women’s Tour, continuing until 1993. In 1992, a new race was created, the Tour Cycliste Féminin, which ran in August under Pierre Boué. The race struggled with funding and fluctuating stage locations for years. By 1998, it was renamed the Tour Cycliste Féminin, but in 1999, it was rebranded due to trademark issues with the male Tour de France. The event continued as the Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale until 2004, when organizational issues paused the race. It returned on a smaller scale in 2005 with fewer stages, and the race was downgraded by the UCI. In 2008, it lasted six days with seven stages, but by 2009, the race was reduced to four days with only 66 riders. The race was halted after 2009, and no other women's races were held in France until the revival in 2022, which featured eight stages. Zwift became the primary sponsor of the event.

The Tour Down Under, officially known as the Santos Tour Down Under due to sponsorship, is a prestigious cycling race held in and around Adelaide, South Australia. It marks the beginning of the UCI World Tour and features all 19 UCI WorldTeams. It also includes a UCI Women's ProSeries race and a one-day event as a 'prelude' to the main race. Established in 1999, with the support of then-South Australian Premier John Olsen, it aimed to fill the gap left by the relocation of the Australian Grand Prix from Adelaide to Melbourne. The event, organized by Events South Australia, has grown significantly over the first two decades, notably becoming the first race to achieve UCI ProTour status in 2008 and the inaugural event of the UCI World Ranking in 2009.

Traditionally held during Australia's summer, the race features a mix of hilly and flat stages over six days. However, the 2021 and 2022 editions were canceled due to challenges posed by international team participation and local quarantine and border restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar to other UCI WorldTour races, it attracts top UCI teams, alongside national teams that include riders not signed to full-time professional contracts. Teams typically consist of six riders, and the rider with the lowest cumulative time after each stage is awarded the Ocher Jersey. Additionally, leaders in the Sprint, Mountain, and Young Rider classifications wear jerseys reflecting their standings. In September 2021, organizers confirmed that the Tour Down Under would be canceled for a second consecutive year due to ongoing travel and quarantine limitations, with the Santos Festival of Cycling scheduled instead from January 21-29, 2021.

Gent-Wevelgem, officially known as Gent-Wevelgem-In Flanders Fields, is a prestigious one-day road race in Belgium, held annually since 1934. It is one of the classic races of the Flemish Cycling Week, typically taking place on the last Sunday of March, just before the Tour of Flanders. While this event is often labeled as a sprinter's classic due to its predominantly flat terrain, the early spring weather brings challenges like wind, rain, and a few tough climbs, including the famous cobbled sections of Kemmelberg. As a result, most editions of Gent-Wevelgem do not finish in a bunch sprint; instead, the winner typically emerges from a small breakaway group. The race was included in the UCI ProTour in 2005 and later became part of the UCI World Tour in 2011. Since 2011, the event has been organized by Flanders Classics, the same company behind the Tour of Flanders. A women's race has been held on the same day since 2012. Six riders share the record for the most wins: Belgian legends Robert Van Eenaeme, Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx, and Tom Boonen, Italian Mario Cipollini, and Slovak Peter Sagan, who has claimed three victories. Sagan also holds the record for the most podium finishes with six.

In 2015, the race was renamed Gent-Wevelgem-In Flanders Fields to honor the centenary of World War I, as the Westhoek region was central to the conflict and hosts numerous war graves. The 2015 edition is particularly memorable for its extreme weather conditions, with strong winds wreaking havoc on the peloton. Some riders, including Geraint Thomas, were blown off their bikes as they led the breakaway, with media describing the race as 'chaotic' and 'one of the wildest in recent years.' Only 39 riders finished the race. The 2016 edition was overshadowed by the tragic death of Belgian rider Antoine Demoitié, who suffered fatal injuries after colliding with a motorcycle. Peter Sagan claimed his third Gent-Wevelgem title in 2018, cementing his place as the most successful rider in the race's history.

Amstel Gold Race is an annual one-day classic road cycling event held in the Limburg province of the Netherlands. Traditionally, it marks the shift to the spring classics, with climbers and stage racers replacing cobbled classic specialists as the favorites. Since 1989, it has been included in major UCI season-long competitions, such as the UCI Road World Cup (1989-2004), UCI ProTour (2005-2010), UCI World Ranking (2009-2010), and, since 2011, the UCI World Tour. It is the only World Tour one-day race held in the Netherlands and is considered the most significant road cycling event in the country. Dutch rider Jan Raas holds the record with five victories. Amstel Brewery, a Dutch beer producer, has been the title sponsor since the race’s inception in 1966. Despite the name, it doesn’t refer directly to the Amstel River that flows through Amsterdam. The race continued uninterrupted until the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2017, the Women’s Amstel Gold Race was reintroduced after a 14-year hiatus, held on the same day and on many of the same roads as the men’s race, as part of the UCI Women’s World Tour.

The Amstel Gold Race was created by Dutch sports promoters Ton Vissers and Herman Krott, who ran a company named Inter Sport. Their dream was to establish a Dutch cycling classic to rival the iconic races of Flanders and Italy. The first edition was scheduled for April 30, 1966, Dutch National Day. The plan was to start in Amsterdam, head east across the country, and finish in Maastricht in the southeast, covering a total distance of 280 km. However, many issues arose. Krott and Vissers had to bypass several rivers along the route and miscalculated some of the winding roads, making the intended distance longer than 280 km. The route was revised to start in Utrecht, then Rotterdam, with a new finishing stage in Meerssen, Limburg. Additionally, just weeks before the race, organizers discovered they were not allowed to cross the Moerdijk Bridge, Rotterdam’s only exit point. The route had to be altered again and moved further south, to Breda. Furthermore, the Dutch counterculture movement, Provo, declared anarchy in the Netherlands in 1966, raising concerns that holding the race on the royal family’s anniversary could incite unrest.

Tirreno - Adriatico, also known as the 'Race of Two Seas,' is a prestigious cycling event in Italy, held between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coasts. Traditionally occurring early in the season, it serves as an important lead-up to the Giro d'Italia. It is part of the UCI World Tour, the highest level of professional men's cycling. First held in 1966, the race began with three stages, but since 2002, it has expanded to seven stages. Except for its inaugural edition, the final stage has always ended in San Benedetto del Tronto on the Adriatic coast. Belgian rider Roger De Vlaeminck holds the record for the most victories, with six consecutive wins in the 1970s. Italian Francesco Moser also won six times and stood on the podium twice. Tirreno - Adriatico was created in 1966 by the Forze Sporti Romane cycling club based in Lazio. While many of Italy's major cycling events were hosted in the north, the race was initially named 'Tre Giorni del Sud' and was a three-day event. The inaugural race started on March 11, 1966, in Rome and concluded two days later in Pescara, with Dino Zandegù claiming victory. In 1967, the race expanded to five stages, with Franco Bitossi winning.

Between 1984 and 2001, the race evolved into a six- to eight-stage event, with the location moving further north to central Italy. Time trial specialists like Swiss Tony Rominger and Danish rider Rolf Sørensen won the race twice in the 1990s. Since 2002, Tirreno - Adriatico has been contested over seven stages, starting from the western Tyrrhenian coast and finishing in San Benedetto del Tronto on the Adriatic Sea. It was added to the UCI ProTour calendar in 2005, but was reclassified as a continental event in 2008 when the organizers, RCS Sport, withdrew all their events from the UCI's top calendar. Since 2011, the race has been part of the UCI World Tour. In recent years, the event frequently includes mountain stages in the Apennines, and many Grand Tour specialists use it as an early-season test before their final goals of the year. Tour de France champions like Vincenzo Nibali, Cadel Evans, and Alberto Contador have been part of the race's prestigious list of winners since 2010. Colombian climber Nairo Quintana won the event in 2015 and again in 2017. The 2020 edition was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Milan - San Remo, also known as 'The Spring Classic' or 'La Classicissima,' is a prestigious one-day road cycling race that takes place annually between Milan and Sanremo in the northwest of Italy. With a distance of 298 km (about 185.2 miles), it is the longest professional one-day race in modern cycling. Traditionally held on the third Saturday of March, it is the first major classic of the season and was first contested in 1907. This race is considered the opening event of the five Monuments of cycling, regarded as some of the most revered one-day races. It was once part of the UCI Road World Cup series until being replaced by the UCI ProTour in 2005 and later by the World Tour in 2011. Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx holds the record with seven victories, while Italian Costante Girardengo has placed on the podium 11 times, with six wins. In modern times, German Erik Zabel and Spaniard Óscar Freire have won four and three times, respectively.

Milan - San Remo is often considered the sprinter's classic due to its mostly flat course, in contrast to another Italian Monument, the Giro di Lombardia, which is regarded as a race for climbers and is held in the fall. Between 1999 and 2005, a women's version called Primavera Rosa was held alongside the men's race but over a shorter distance. The idea for the race between Milan and Sanremo originated with Unione Sportiva Sanremese. An amateur event was first held on April 2–3, 1906, with two stages (Milan - Acqui Terme and Acqui Terme - Sanremo), but it was not very successful. Milan journalist Tullo Morgagni, who also started the Tour of Lombardy in 1905, proposed the idea of a one-day professional race, which was taken up by Eugenio Costamagna, the director of the famous sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport. The 2020 edition was notably held in the summer due to extraordinary circumstances caused by the pandemic, with a completely new route due to the sudden cancellation by local mayors of some coastal towns, citing the crowds expected in August along the busy Via Aurelia highway, whereas March is typically less congested for the race.

Tour de France, also known as the Grande Boucle or simply Le Tour, is the most famous cycling race in the world. Since its inception in 1903, it has been held annually, except during World War I (1915-1918) and World War II (1940-1946), during the three weeks of July. The race takes riders through France and its neighboring countries. Organized by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), it became part of the UCI ProTour in 2005, one of the most significant cycling series. Often regarded as the toughest cycling race, the Tour de France's challenging terrain is actually comparable to other major races like the Giro d'Italia (Italy's Tour) and Vuelta a España (Spain's Tour), but the riders' sheer speed, toughness, and competitiveness make it unique.

The race was founded by the French sports newspaper L'Auto, which sought to increase its circulation. Henri Desgrange, the paper's editor-in-chief, also served as the Tour's director until his death in 1939. Desgrange introduced key features such as the yellow jersey in 1919 and the mountain classification in 1933. In 1930, he initiated the concept of promotional teams, which still precede the peloton today and distribute gifts to spectators. Desgrange trained journalist Jacques Goddet to succeed him as both editor and Tour director, a position he held from 1936 to 1986. After France's liberation in 1944, L'Auto ceased publication, but two years later, Goddet founded L'Equipe, continuing the Tour de France's legacy. In 1989, Jean-Marie Leblanc, also from the journalistic world, became the first Tour director outside of the L'Auto and L'Equipe teams. Under his leadership, the commercialization of the Tour reached new heights.

Giro d'Italia, meaning 'Tour of Italy' in Italian, is considered the second most prestigious cycling race in the world, after the Tour de France and ahead of the Vuelta a España. This race became part of the UCI ProTour, introduced in 2005, one of the top cycling series each year. Since its inaugural race in 1909, it has been held annually, with the exception of the World Wars, during the three weeks of May. The route changes every year and takes cyclists through Italy and neighboring countries. The race includes flat stages for sprinters, medium-difficulty stages for breakaway specialists, and mountainous stages where the overall winner is often decided. Additionally, two individual time trials are included.

The leader of the general classification wears the Maglia Rosa, similar to the yellow jersey of the Tour de France. The pink color was chosen to match the light pink paper of the Italian newspaper, Gazzetta dello Sport, which organizes the race. The record for the most Giro wins is held by three riders, each with five victories: Italians Alfredo Binda and Fausto Coppi, who won between 1925-1933 and 1940-1953, and Belgium's Eddy Merckx, whose victories spanned 1968 to 1974. Mario Cipollini holds the record for the most stage wins, with 42 in 2003, surpassing Binda's long-standing record of 41 stage wins. Alessandro Petacchi set the post-war record with 9 stage wins in a single Giro.

Vuelta a España is a prestigious cycling race primarily held in Spain, though occasionally extending to neighboring countries. First held in 1935, and annually since 1955, the Vuelta spans three weeks across a changing route throughout Spain. The inaugural race in 1935 featured 50 riders and covered 3,411 km (2,119 miles) over 14 stages, averaging more than 240 km (149 miles) per stage. Inspired by the success of the French and Italian Tours, the race was launched to boost circulation for its sponsoring newspaper, Informaciones. Initially held in spring, often in late April, the event shifted to later in the year in 1995 to avoid overlapping with the Giro d’Italia, now positioning the Vuelta as an important lead-up to the World Championships held each October. There was also a version in August-September 1950.

In 2017, Chris Froome triumphed in the Vuelta, marking his second overall win and solidifying his status as the first British rider to win the race. In 2018, Simon Yates, also from Britain, claimed his first major victory at 26, becoming the first rider to win all three Grand Tours in a single year for their country. Primož Roglič won the 2019 edition, making him the first Slovenian cyclist to win a Grand Tour, and he successfully defended his title in 2020. While the majority of the race occurs in mainland Spain, neighboring countries like Portugal, Andorra, and France have been featured since the 1990s. The race has also included stages in the Netherlands and Belgium, and three editions have started outside Spain, with the 2020 Grand Tour originally set to begin in Utrecht but was altered due to the COVID-19 pandemic.