UCI recognizes Tour de India as an international calendar event

On Saturday, 30 November, 2013, UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) announced the inclusion of Tour de India in the international calendar. UCI, founded in 1900, is a Switzerland based governing body dedicated to sports cycling. The body was founded in Paris with 30 countries affiliated with the union. The body is responsible for the categorization of races and the points ranking of various categories of cycling events.

Tour de India is one of the world’s biggest cycling race to be held in 3 cities of India. The races will be held in the third week of December 2013. This multi-city race will mark its beginning in the commercial capital Mumbai, followed by the pink city Jaipur and will come to a closure in Delhi. The scheduled dates for the three venues are 15, 17 and 22 December, 2013 respectively.

The Buddh International Circuit will be the venue for the Delhi’s edition of the race on 22 December, 2013. This track is popularly known as the venue for the Formula One Indian Grand Prix held annually.

Six Indian teams including Railways, Services, India ‘A’, ‘B’ and two cycling clubs, will participate in Tour de India. It is a 19,000 Euro prized prestigious event. The selection of teams will be done by the Cycling Federation of India (CFI) based on the performances and records. The event will also be joined by 10 foreign teams for participation. This is considered as the biggest event in cycling to be held in India. The famous supermodel and actor, John Abraham will be the brand ambassador of this event for the next three years.

CFI along with some renowned models of Indian fashion world involving Mughda Godse, Rochelle Rao and Hasleen Kaur , were recently noticed in campaigns to encourage the citizens for their active participation in the forthcoming event.