Para-cycling: four kinds of cycle, and the classes that group riders.

Where para-cycling sits

Cycling Canada says para-cycling became a Paralympic sport at Seoul in 1988, at first for athletes with visual impairments, and now includes athletes with cerebral palsy, amputations and other impairments. They race on the road and the track, on four kinds of cycle: bicycle, tricycle, handcycle and tandem.

The UCI's list of the disciplines it governs, in its 125th-anniversary release of April 2025, does not name para-cycling as a separate item. In the UCI's rules, para-cyclists are riders with impairments who have been classified under the UCI functional classification system in Part 16, chapter V (UCI Part 1, version on 1 July 2026, articles 1.1.036 and 1.1.037). We did not read Part 16, so the classification procedure itself is not described here.

The sport classes

Cycling New Zealand describes the classes this way:

Wikipedia says sport class codes carry an M or W prefix for men and women, for example MC1, WH3 or MB.

Handcycle positions: two descriptions

• Cycling New Zealand: H1 and H2 riders ride reclined; H3 to H5 ride kneeling or seated.
• British Cycling (2015): a British Cycling page, as summarised in a search result, said H1 to H4 ride lying down and H5 kneeling. The page itself could not be opened, so this version could not be confirmed.

The UCI's own classification rules were not opened in our research, so we cannot say which description matches them today.

UCI rules that apply to para-cyclists

• Prostheses and braces. Under article 1.3.010 bis, lower-limb mechanical prostheses or braces are only for para-cycling athletes classified under the UCI procedure, and never outside para-cycling events. This is as reproduced in the Japan Cycling Federation's copy of the UCI clarification guide, whose edition date we could not confirm.
• Age. UCI Part 1 (article 1.1.035) generally requires riders in international-calendar events to be 17 or over, but lets riders aged 16 or under take part in international para-cycling events, as well as trials, BMX and indoor events.
• Classifiers. Officials who need a UCI licence include para-cycling classifiers, alongside commissaires (article 1.1.010).
• Tandems on the track. UCI Part 3 (version applying 1 January 2026, article 3.2.184) has a tandem speciality: a sprint competition for tandems, run under the sprint rules with stated exceptions, in which each pair counts as one participant. Our research did not confirm how that article relates to the B class's tandem events.

Para-cycling at the LA28 Paralympic Games

US Paralympics Cycling reported on 13 June 2025 that para-cycling at LA28 will have 51 medal events on the road and the track: 28 for men, 21 for women and 2 mixed, with a quota of 220 athletes. The track events will be held at the VELO Sports Center velodrome in Carson, California, a 250 m track. At that date the road course had not been chosen.

Where to go next

Track events and their rules are on the track cycling page, and licences and age categories on the licences and categories page. Classification follows the UCI's procedure; this site does not explain how an individual athlete would be classed.