COPACI — Confederación Panamericana de Ciclismo

What is COPACI?

COPACI, the Confederación Panamericana de Ciclismo, is the continental confederation for cycling in the Americas. On its About page it describes itself as an autonomous body made up of the national cycling federations and associations of the countries of the American continent, and calls itself the governing organ of cycling activity in the Americas; those are COPACI’s own descriptions.^[2] The same page lists the bodies it works with: the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world governing body, and the regional multi-sport organisations Panam Sports (formerly ODEPA) and ODECABE, the Central American and Caribbean sports organisation.^[2] Its calendar for 2026 lists continental championships in road, track, mountain bike (cross-country, downhill and marathon), BMX racing, BMX freestyle, gravel, para-cycling and masters racing, alongside the UCI America Tour road races, the America Series in mountain bike and the Copa America track series.^[6][15] COPACI’s own statutes could not be retrieved from its site, which instead publishes the UCI’s constitution and regulations; its legal form is therefore given here only as COPACI states it, an autonomous confederation of national federations.^[1]

What does COPACI govern or do?

COPACI does not write its own rules of racing. Its site publishes the UCI’s constitution and regulations as the rules that apply, and its championship documents state that the events run under UCI regulations: the technical guide for the 2025 Pan American Road Championships says the event is organised by the Uruguayan Cycling Federation with COPACI’s support and under UCI rules.^[1][9] Anti-doping, licensing, rankings and the international calendar are UCI matters, set out on the UCI and cycling pages.

What COPACI does is sanction and coordinate the continental level. It awards and co-organises the continental championships with the host national federation; the event pages name both, for example the Federación Colombiana de Ciclismo and COPACI for the 2026 road championships in Montería.^[8] It publishes a continental calendar that includes the UCI America Tour road races and its own series.^[6] It confirms continental qualification results to Panam Sports for the Pan American Games family (see recognition below).^[7] It also keeps a table of continental track records, set out by category: continental championships for men and women, elite and junior, and the Pan American Games.^[5] The professional road teams and the WorldTour are governed by the UCI, not by COPACI.

When was COPACI founded and where is it based?

COPACI’s About page states that it was founded on 24 September 1922 in Montevideo, Uruguay, under the name Confederación Americana de Ciclismo, and that it took its present name, Confederación Panamericana de Ciclismo, during the presidency of the Colombian Marcos Arambula Durán (1958–1979). It describes itself as the second-oldest cycling organisation in the world after the UCI. No independent source for the 1922 date or the renaming could be retrieved, and both rest on COPACI’s own account.^[2]

The same page names its presidents as it records them: Juan B. Maglia of Uruguay, the first (1922–1958), followed by Arambula Durán, Armando Ustariz of Venezuela (1979–1987), Guillermo Gutiérrez of Mexico (1987–1991) and José Manuel Peláez Rodríguez of Cuba, from 1991.^[2] Peláez Rodríguez heads the Executive Committee for the period 2025–2029; COPACI’s calendar lists a COPACI Congress in Panama City on 25 February 2025, at the start of that period.^[3][11]

COPACI has no fixed seat. Its About page states: “Su Comité Ejecutivo radica en la ciudad en que habita el Presidente de la Confederación” — its Executive Committee sits in the city where the President lives.^[2] Its contact address is the Velódromo Nacional Reinaldo Paseiro in Havana, Cuba.^[1]

How is COPACI recognised?

The recognising act for a continental cycling confederation is the UCI’s. The UCI Constitution could not be retrieved in readable form from the UCI’s site, so the article and edition that recognise COPACI are not quoted here. What COPACI’s own pages show is the working tie: its Executive Committee for 2025–2029 includes a “Representante COPACI en MC de UCI”, a COPACI representative on the UCI Management Committee, held for that period by Pierre Laflamme of Canada; and its About page describes its member federations as affiliated to the UCI.^[3][2] The IOC-recognised federation for the sport is the UCI.

The continental multi-sport tie is with Panam Sports. In the qualification manual for the Asunción 2025 Junior Pan American Games, each cycling discipline section states: “La Confederación Panamericana de Ciclismo (COPACI) confirmará a Panam Sports y a los CONs que hayan clasificado”, followed by the deadline — COPACI confirms the qualified National Olympic Committees to Panam Sports. The manual uses COPACI’s continental track championships in Paraguay (1–6 April 2025) and its cross-country championships in Costa Rica (26–27 April 2025) as qualification events.^[7] COPACI also lists ODECABE among the organisations it works with.^[2]

What does COPACI organise?

COPACI states that it has organised annual Pan American championships and records the addition of women’s competition (1987), mountain bike (1993) and BMX (1997).^[2] It now calls them “Campeonato Continental / Continental Championship”, one per discipline, each awarded to a host federation.

The senior road championship is the Pan American Road Championships. COPACI’s 2025 technical guide called the Punta del Este event (22–27 April 2025) “the 39th edition”; the most recent completed edition was held in Montería, Colombia, from 16 to 22 March 2026, in UCI class C.C, for elite men and women, under-23 men and junior men and women.^[9][8] In 2026 COPACI’s calendar also lists continental championships in para-cycling (Indaiatuba, Brazil, 25 February–1 March), mountain bike downhill (Sapiranga, Brazil, 5–8 March), cross-country (Aguavista, Paraguay, 16–19 April), BMX racing (Bogotá, 2 May), junior track (Xalapa, Mexico, 4–9 May) and gravel (Guanacaste, Costa Rica, 2 August).^{[10][13][14][15]} Still to be held on 4 October 2026 were the masters track and road championships (Tarija, Bolivia, 4–11 November), marathon mountain bike (Mar del Plata, Argentina, 15–16 November) and BMX freestyle (Chile, 19–21 November).^[6]

Alongside the championships, COPACI publishes the continental UCI America Tour road calendar, the America Series in mountain bike and the Copa America track series, and lists cycling at the regional Games (the Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo, 2026; the South American Games in Santa Fe, Argentina, 2026).^[15]

Who are its members?

COPACI’s members are the national cycling federations of the Americas. Its own pages give two figures, both undated. The About page states that COPACI interacts with 39 national federations.^[2] The affiliated-federations page groups its members by zone, under the headings “ZONA NORTE (3)”, “ZONA CENTRO (7)”, “ZONA CARIBE (22)” and “ZONA SUR (12)”, and within the Caribbean zone lists a sub-group headed “MIEMBROS ASOCIADOS (NO VOTO) (5)” — associate members without a vote.^[4] The two pages do not reconcile, and no independent count, from the UCI or another body, could be retrieved.

The four zones also structure COPACI’s leadership: the Executive Committee for 2025–2029 has a vice-president for each of the North, Central, Caribbean and South zones, with the North zone post listed as vacant, plus further vice-presidents and members from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the United States and Jamaica.^[3] The member federations meet in the COPACI Congress, where the affiliates page’s split between full and non-voting associate members applies. COPACI’s calendar lists Congresses at São José dos Campos, Brazil, on 22 May 2024, during that year’s road championships; in Panama City on 25 February 2025; and at Montería, Colombia, on 18 March 2026.^[12][11][14]