On Thursday, the UCI announced its calendars for the 2018 road season. The sport's governing body also revealed the mountain bike, 'cross and BMX calendars for the new year.
There are no new men's WorldTour races in 2018 although the Women's WorldTour calendar has been expanded with the introduction of the Driedaagse De Panne in March, Emakumeen XXX. Bira in May, and the Tour of Guangxi Women's WorldTour race in October.
The men's WorldTour calendar will again start in January with the Tour Down Under and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Australia, moving to the UAE for the Abu Dhabi Tour in February. The Abu Dhabi Tour has expanded to five stages from 2018 while the Tour of Qatar will not return in 2018 after being cancelled in 2017. The first European WorldTour race is the season is Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on February 25.
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The one-day clash between the end of Paris-Nice and start of Tirreno-Adriatico continues in 2018, as does the overlap between the Criterium du Dauphine and Tour de Suisse. In 2018 the final day of the Tour de France will clash with RideLondon which had previously been held the week after the French Grand Tour.
The calendar though is largely similar to 2017 with the Tour of Guangxi to close out the season. The Tour of Turkey remains on the calendar and will retain its October position having previously been held in April.
There are also several new races on the road calendar at the lower 2.1 and 1.1 levels and races that made the jump from the 2.2 and 2.1 categories. The Tour of Croatia and Tour des Fjords are the only races to move from 2.1 to the higher 2.HC status.
Expanded women's calendar from 2018
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