UCI Cycling Regulations Part 17 — Cycling Esports 2026
Part 17 of the UCI Cycling Regulations — Cycling Esports, in force from 1 January 2026.
| In force | 1 January 2026 |
| Structure | Part 17 of the seventeen parts of the UCI Regulations — 34 articles |
| Status | Current edition — supersedes the January 2019 edition |
What Part 17 governs
The Regulations of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) are divided into seventeen numbered parts, which sit alongside the Constitution and the Code of Ethics. Each article carries its own three-element number — such as 17.1.001 — the first element of which is the number of the part. This document is Part 17 of that body of regulations.
Cycling esports: general provisions and the platform, equipment, performance verification, event-specific rules, data, and offences particular to the discipline.
Key changes in this editionChanges from the January 2019 edition
- Definition of the platform and the provider's liabilityArticle 17.1.001 defines an esports event as an event held on a software platform; the following articles set out the platform provider's responsibility: the software must be free of any defect that would disrupt the competition or render the result unfair.
- Prohibition on pre-competition updatesArticle 17.1.004: the platform provider must agree with the UCI on a period of at least two weeks before an official event during which no software update is released, save for what has been expressly agreed.
- Timing accuracyArticle 17.1.008: the data displayed must be correct and accurate, and the timing of riders at the finish line and the sprint line must be carried out to an accuracy of one thousandth of a second or better.
- Equality between riders and equipment compatibilityArticles 17.1.006 and 17.1.007: the platform must be compatible with a wide range of equipment, must not give any rider an advantage, and must treat all riders alike.
- Two types of competitionArticle 17.1.012 distinguishes between an on-site competition — where the commissaire may inspect participants and equipment at that location — and a remote competition.
- Licence and mandatory equipmentEach rider must hold a valid licence bearing a UCI ID code from the federation of their country of residence (17.1.013) and, save in the cases specified, must compete with a power meter and smart trainer, together with a cadence sensor and a heart rate monitor (17.2.002).
- Independent performance verificationArticle 17.3.001: the organiser is required to use an independent third-party performance verification system approved by the UCI.
- Powers of the commissaireArticle 17.1.016: the commissaire appointed to an on-site competition has the same powers and responsibilities as those laid down in Part 1 of the UCI Regulations.
Who this document matters to
This discipline has moved from a short text in 2019 to a complete body of rules. For platform providers, the software obligations — from the ban on pre-competition updates to the requirement of open data access for commissaires — create clear contractual duties which, if breached, expose the result of the competition to challenge.