Are you aware that cycling is one of the only 5 sports that was featured in all the modern Olympics? Well it is. Do you know that the record for most wins in the Tour de France was made by an American Lance Armstrong, having won 7 times? Are you aware that the world's oldest professional cyclist Dutchman Fred Rompelberg is also the holder of the Absolute Speed World Record Cycling? These are just few facts relating to bicycle and professional cycling. Though you may consider these fun facts to be trivial, you may find the most prestigious bicycle races in the world to be an important fact especially if you are someone who intends to join it or an avid follower of these races.

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Bicycle racing is something that exists since middle of the 19th century. It is only at the start of the 20th century though that it took the form that it has at present. Some of the first bicycle races ever established still exist and are in fact considered to be the most prestigious worldwide. Of the many bicycle races held yearly, few of the most famous are the Grand Tours, the Olympic races and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). Fast gaining popularity are the cyclo-cross racing and the mountain bike racing.

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The Grand Tours are made up of three world renowned races, the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia (or simply Giro) and the Vuelta a Espana. Even non-cyclists have heard of the Tour de France, the most famous of the three. This race, founded in 1903, takes three weeks to finish, is made up of 20 stages and covers about 2,000 miles. The cyclist with the shortest time in each stage wins the race.

The cycling races held in the Olympics started as early as 1896. Some of the cycling events have already been forgotten but new ones are now held. Today's Olympic games have bike competitors vie for road cycling, mountain bike races, track cycling, off-road competitions and BMX. These races are fought according to gender and some are done in teams.

The UCI races are composed of several prestigious races that is popularly referred to as the UCI ProTour. It replaced the UCI World Tour in 2005 and now includes the Grand Tours and other sought after cycling races such as the Criterium de Dauphine Libere, Paris Nice and Tour de Suisse and other one day races like the Clasica de San Sebastian, Milan-Sanremo, Ronde van Vlaanderen and other famous races. Cycling is generally a summer sport and most of these races are held either in spring or in fall.

The Best Bicycle Races Worldwide

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