UCI chooses Benidorm: the 2031 Cyclocross World Championships will be held in Spain

Benidorm can now erase the word candidacy. The Alicante city will host the Cyclocross World Championship in 2031, after the UCI has officially confirmed a decision that has been taking shape for months and represents the definitive recognition of the growth of an event that has quickly become one of the most important dates on the international calendar.

The UCI confirms that the CX World Championship 2031 will be in Benidorm

The announcement was made during the UCI Annual Congress held in Montreal. Its president, David Lappartient, confirmed the award alongside the president of the UEC, Enrico Della Casa, while José Vicioso, president of the Royal Spanish Cycling Federation, received the badge that officially accredits Benidorm as the championship venue.

The last time a cyclocross World Championship was held in Spain was 41 years ago. In 1990, it was the last time the event took place in Getxo.

The 2031 World Championship will culminate a project that began to carve out a place on the international calendar in 2023. Since then, the Benidorm World Cup has managed to establish itself in a territory traditionally dominated by the major races in Belgium and the Netherlands, using precisely its differences as one of its main attractions.

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The setting formed by the parks of Foietes and El Moralet, the Mediterranean climate, and a public response of around 16,000 spectators in its latest editions have allowed the race to quickly transition from being a singular bet to becoming one of the established venues of the World Cup. Some of the most important names in the specialty have passed through and won there, including Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Felipe Orts, and Fem van Empel.

Benidorm's continuity on the calendar had already made clear the UCI's confidence in the project. The 2026-2027 World Cup will return to the city on January 17, as part of a calendar of 12 events that keeps the Spanish venue among the major winter dates.

The UCI visit that brought the World Championship very close

The candidacy took its most important step last June. A UCI delegation then traveled to Benidorm for a decisive inspection in which not only the circuit was studied.

Over two days, the officials of the international body also analyzed the city's hotel capacity, mobility, infrastructure, logistics, and institutional support. That visit made it clear that the proposal had entered its final phase and that the project went far beyond adapting the usual World Cup route.

Now there is already an answer. The UCI has chosen Benidorm to distribute the rainbow jerseys of cyclocross in 2031.

The designation also reinforces the weight that the city is acquiring within international cycling. Benidorm was also chosen to host the UCI Cycling Gala in October 2026, another of the major institutional events of the organization.

For Spanish cyclocross, however, the World Championship will have a special dimension. Benidorm has managed to transform in less than a decade a World Cup event born far from the traditional heart of this discipline into a venue capable of hosting the largest championship on the calendar.

In 2031, the parks of Foietes and El Moralet will host the CX World Championship, and the rainbow jerseys will be at stake there.