UCI’s Cycling for All manifesto puts everyday riding beside elite competition

The UCI has launched its 2026 Cycling for All manifesto, setting out a framework that extends beyond racing to everyday transport and participation. Published on 7 October, it replaces the federation’s 2017 manifesto.

The document is organised around seven principles and four pillars: advocacy, inspiration, education and collaboration. The UCI presents it as part of its wider work with cycling-friendly communities and the United Nations’ 2026–2035 sustainable transport decade.

Cycling is not only a race result

The same bicycle can serve very different purposes. A professional rider competes within a regulated event, while another person may ride to work, reach a school or make a local journey. A governing body discussing cycling for all is therefore addressing a wider set of needs than a race calendar alone can capture.

Those needs are practical. People require routes they can use, places to keep a bicycle and information that makes a journey understandable. The relevant obstacles differ between communities, so a broad international framework needs local knowledge to become useful.

A manifesto can establish priorities and a common vocabulary. It cannot by itself create a connected route or change the experience of riding through a particular neighbourhood. The distinction between a stated principle and a delivered improvement is central to assessing its value.

What collaboration should mean

Everyday cycling involves transport planners, schools, employers and local organisations as well as sporting bodies. Collaboration matters because no single group controls the whole journey. A useful project needs to recognise where responsibility sits and how the different parts connect.

Education is similarly more than telling people that cycling is worthwhile. Clear information about routes, local rules and practical arrangements can reduce uncertainty. The content has to answer the questions of the people expected to use it.

An African perspective

African cities and rural communities have different transport patterns and constraints. A framework developed internationally should not be read as if one model can be copied everywhere. The appropriate response begins with understanding how people already move and what prevents them from making a useful journey.

Sport can still play a role. A visible race or rider may draw attention to cycling, but sustained participation requires conditions that remain after the event has left. The connection between inspiration and everyday use needs practical support.

The new manifesto broadens the conversation around what a cycling federation can encourage. Its principles offer a direction rather than a completed outcome. The stronger evidence will be projects that make riding more accessible and usable in specific places, with results that can be assessed beyond the announcement.

Source: The UCI launches its 2026 Cycling for All Manifesto. Reporting and analysis by Montage Africa.