This upcoming weekend is the start of the European block of 2021 UCI Cyclocross World Cup races on Sunday, October 24. Zonhoven, Belgium hosted the famed sandpit race from 1958 to 1966 and then restarted the race as part of the Telnet Superprestige during the 2009-2010 season. Zonhoven CX was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19 but is back in 2021 to kick off a series of Belgian cyclocross World Cup races. The 2020 winners include Belgium’s Toon Aerts and The Netherlands' Annemarie Worst.

The 2021 UCI Track Cycling World Championships will take place in Roubaix, France at the STAB Velodrome from October 20-24. Originally scheduled to take place in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, 22 different events will take place on the Siberian spruce 250m indoor track.

The organisers of Paris-Roubaix, which returns on Sunday, have been battling grass that has sprouted along some of its famed cobbled sectors during the two-and-a-half year coronavirus hiatus. The "queen of the classics" was postponed and then cancelled last year and postponed again last spring. It was last run in April 2019, when the Belgian Philippe Gilbert won.

The UCI Road World Championships road races in Flanders, Belgium take place Sept. 25-26. The Flanders region is a hotbed for professional cycling, known for its steep and often cobbled climbs. Both the elite men's and women's road races begin in Antwerp and feature multiple complex circuits which will give racers and fans a taste of quintessential Belgian bike racing before finishing on Leuven's Geldenaaksevest.

The UCI Road World Championship road races in Flanders, Belgium take place Sept. 25-26. The Flanders region is a hotbed for professional cycling, known for its steep and often cobbled climbs. Both the elite men's and women's road races begin in Antwerp and feature multiple complex circuits which will give racers and fans a taste of quintessential Belgian bike racing before finishing on Leuven's Geldenaaksevest.

“The Race of Truth ' comes to the 2021 UCI Road World Championships in Knokke-Heist, Belgium, in the form of a 30.3km time trial for the elite women on Sept. 20. The elite men will race 43.3km on a similar, longer course the day before. Both races will pass through Damme before finishing in the heart of Bruges.

Wout Van Aert can round off a superb season by being crowned men's world road race champion on home turf and shake off his tag of championship nearly man, giving Belgium a record-extending 27th rainbow jersey in male events.

The UCI Road World Championship road races in Flanders, Belgium take place on September 25 and 26th. The Flanders region is a hotbed for professional cycling, known for its steep, and often cobbled climbs.

The UCI Road World Championship road race in Flanders, Belgium takes place on September 25 and 26th. The Flanders region is a hotbed for professional cycling, known for its steep, and often cobbled climbs.

“The Race of Truth” comes to the 2021 UCI Road World Championships in Knokke-Heist, Belgium for the elite women on September 20th. The women’s individual time trial is 30.3km. While slightly shorter than the men's, both races will pass through Damme before finishing in the heart of Bruges.

“The Race of Truth” comes to the 2021 UCI Road World Championships in Knokke-Heist, Belgium for the elite men on Sunday, September 19. The 43.3km men’s race will feature a beach start and winding passage into Damme that the U23 men will also race; the women’s TT race is 30.3km and follows a similar trajectory. Additionally, both races will feature a 180 degree turn offering a straight 5km run into Damme before the finish into 't Zand in the heart of Bruges.

Six rainbow jerseys will be awarded in Bruges, Belgium where every world time trial title will be decided. Following 2020, a year in which only elite world titles were awarded due to the coronavirus pandemic, youth categories will return in 2021, as well as the team time trial mixed relay.

2021 marks a special year for the UCI Road World Championships: 100 years of top-level cyclists battling all out for the prized rainbow jersey. The inaugural 1921 race, held in Copenhagen, was initially held only for amateur racers and was known as the “Men's Road Race for Amateurs.” In 1927, the UCI began holding the Road World Championships to recognize the World Road Champion at the professional level; women’s races were added in 1958.

The Tokyo Olympics have come and gone, but one major prize remains in this mountain bike season; the 2021 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. Olympic favorites Mathieu Van Der Poel and  Pauline Ferrand-Prévot  both botched the opening laps of their Olympic XC races, costing them any hopes of medaling in Tokyo. Now Van der Poel and Ferrand-Prévot have turned their attention to Trentino, Italy where they will fight for redemption and rainbow bands at the Val di Sole bike park.

The 2021 Vuelta a España has a star-studded cast of contenders. We take a look at three of the likeliest eventual champions: