World Professional (Elite) Road Cycling Championship

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The World Cycling Championships are held near the end of the European racing season. The races are for elite men (formerly for professional men), men under 23 (formerly the race was for amateur men), women, junior men and junior women. Both individual time trial and massed-start road championship races are held. Each road championship race is a single-day race. The road race winner has the privilege of wearing a white jersey with rainbow stripes in road races until the next championship. The time trial champion can wear his rainbow jersey only during time trials. A former world champion can have rainbows on his jersey collar and cuffs.

The world championships are run on a national team format. The riders are expected to forget their trade team allegiances during the race and compete for their countries. They usually do.

In recent years world champions have taken to wearing rainbow decorated shorts, gloves, helmets, shoes and riding rainbow'd bikes.

Before cycling's governing body, the UCI, began running the championships, a discontinued French race called the GP Wolber, which was run in September, was considered by many to be the unofficial road racing championship. In time trialing, the Grand Prix des Nations held the same status.

4 riders have won the world road championship 3 times: Alfredo Binda, Rik Van Steenbergen, Eddy Merckx and Oscar Freire.

2 riders have won the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and World Championship in the same year: Eddy Merckx (1974) and Stephen Roche (1987).