Glasgow World Championships viewer’s guide

by Kit Nicholson 03.08.2023 Photography by
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At this point in the season, we’re usually taking a deep breath before the build-up to the Vuelta a España, but this year, we have the first edition of the UCI Cycling World Championships to look forward to.

Starting Thursday, August 3 and spanning 11 days, this super-sized Worlds incorporates 13 usually disparate disciplines into one mega event including road, track, mountain bike, BMX, artistic cycling, everything except cyclocross. Para-cycling road and track World Championships will be held concurrently.

There’s a lot going on, spread over a great swathe of Scotland. We’ll have more detailed previews of the road and mountain bike XC events in the coming days, but for now here’s a quick guide to when the major events are happening and how to watch. The schedule is … a lot, given the presence of pretty much every discipline except cyclocross. But, us being the helpful folks we are, we’ve condensed some of the most notable events into this handy cheat sheet.

The fine print: Start times here are local, UK time and taken from the UCI and Tissot’s own official schedule. TL;DR – these may change slightly, and if you start your women’s sprint stream at precisely 18:33, don’t blame us if it’s already over. Also: this chart reflects only elite track and elite, junior, and U23 road and mountain bike racing. For track racing, only finals/medal rounds are listed; for events like pursuit, sprint, and keirin, there are qualifying rounds that are not listed. For those, and for other categories and disciplines that will feature at the World Cycling Championships, please check the official schedule.

Where to watch

• UK/most of Europe: GCN+ (Eurosport) has all events, from junior road racing to cycle ball. Afternoon track sessions will also be on the BBC in the UK.
• USA/Canada: FloBikes has road, track, mtb, BMX and indoor events.
• Australia: SBS has “all the best action” to stream live vis SBS On Demand and “select events” airing on SBS Viceland.

Can’t find your country listed? Here’s the UCI’s “broadcast intentions” PDF.

Road cycling

Road races:

The road races all end on what is essentially a particularly tricky criterium loop, complete with somewhere in the region of 40 corners on Glasgow’s grid-like streets, and features some very steep ramps. While the juniors are on the laps from the start, the elite women and U23 men start at Loch Lomond, and the elite men ride out from Edinburgh.

• Sat 5th – Junior women (70km) start: 10:00
• Sat 5th – Junior men (127.2km) start: 13:00
• Sun 6th – Elite men (271.1km) start: 09:30
• Sat 12th – Men U23 (168.4km) start: 11:30
• Sun 13th – Elite women and U23 (154.1km) start: 12:00

Team Time Trial Mixed Relay — Glasgow > Glasgow:

• Tues 8th Aug (40.3km) start: 13:00

Individual Time Trials — Stirling > Stirling:

• Wed 9th – Men U23 (36.4km) start: 14:30
• Thurs 10th – Junior women (23km) start: 11:15
• Thurs 10th – Elite women (36.4km) start: 14:00
• Fri 11th – Junior men (23km) start: 10:00
• Fri 11th – Elite men (48.1km) start: 14:35

Track cycling

All track events are taking place between 3-9th August at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow. There will be racing throughout every day, but the medal events are as follows. Full schedule, including all qualification events, can be found here, and bear in mind that the exact times are likely to fluctuate with delays between races, crashes, etc.

• Thurs 3rd – Women’s Individual Pursuit @ 19:50
• Thurs 3rd – Women’s Team Sprint @ 20:19
• Thurs 3rd – Men’s Scratch Race @ 20:27
• Fri 4th – Women’s 500m Time Trial @ 19:26
• Fri 4th – Women’s Scratch Race @ 20:01
• Fri 4th – Men’s Team Sprint @ 20:33
• Sat 5th – Men’s Team Pursuit @ 19:07
• Sat 5th – Women’s Team Pursuit @ 20:28
• Sun 6th – Women’s Elimination Race @ 18:34
• Sun 6th – Men’s Individual Pursuit @ 19:01
• Sun 6th – Women’s Keirin @ 19:57
• Sun 6th – Men’s Omnium
  Scratch @ 14:41; Tempo @ 18:22; Elimination @ 19:16; Points @ 20:12
• Mon 7th – Men’s Elimination Race @ 18:28
• Mon 7th – Men’s Individual Sprint @ 18:55
• Mon 7th – Women’s Madison @ 19:34
• Tues 8th – Men’s 1km Time Trial @ 17:25
• Tues 8th – Women’s Points Race @ 18:42
• Tues 8th – Men’s Madison @19:44
• Wed 9th – Women’s Individual Sprint @ 17:30
• Wed 9th – Men’s Points Race @19:15
• Wed 9th – Men’s Keirin @ 20:11
• Wed 9th – Women’s Omnium
  Scratch @ 17:38; Tempo @ 18:19; Elimination @ 18:58; Points @ 20:21

Mountain bike

Downhill

There’s only one place the Downhill events could possibly be happening and that’s the iconic World Cup venue of Fort William, about 100 miles north of Glasgow. The 2.8-kilometre run drops 550 metres and it’s a technical, rocky, and challenging descent. Full schedule here.

• Thurs 3rd – Juniors qualification from 16:30
• Fri 4th – Elite qualification from 12:00
• Fri 4th – Junior women’s final from 12:30
• Fri 4th – Junior men’s final from 15:30
• Sat 5th – Elite women’s final from 12:30
• Sat 5th – Elite men’s final from 14:00

Cross-country

All cross-country events, including Marathon, are taking place in Glentress Forest south of Edinburgh, a Mecca for British mountain bikers who seek out its varying terrain, punishing climbs and long, grippy descents. Full timing schedule can be found here.

• Tues 8th – Short Track (XCC) qualifying
• Wed 9th – Mixed Team Relay (XCR) @ 12:30
• Wed 9th – Elite women’s e-MTB @ 15:00
• Wed 9th – Elite men’s e-MTB @ 16:30
• Thurs 10th – Junior women’s XCO @ 12:00
• Thurs 10th – Junior men’s XCO @ 14:00
• Thurs 10th – Elite men’s XCC final @ 17:45
• Thurs 10th – Elite women’s XCC final @ 18:30
• Fri 11th – U23 men’s XCO @ 11:30
• Fri 11th – U23 women’s XCO @ 15:30
• Sat 12th – Elite women’s XCO @ 11:30
• Sat 12th – Elite men’s XCO @ 15:30

Marathon

• Sun 6th – Elite men @ 09:00
• Sun 6th – Elite women @ 09:30

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