CYCLING: Four-Country Championship Under-23 2026

Weiswampach & Hosingen, Luxembourg 04./05.07.2026

Source: https://www.fscl.lu/

The 4 Länder Meisterschaft U23 (Four-Country Championship Under-23) is a unique and prestigious road cycling event where the national cycling federations of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Luxembourg combine their national U23 championships into one massive joint race.

Instead of hosting four small, separate national championship races, these countries pool their resources to create a highly competitive, international-caliber event.

How It Works

• The Format: All riders from the four participating countries compete in the same single road race (divided by Men’s U23 and Women’s U23 categories).
• The Winners: There are two types of winners crowned at the end:
  1. The Overall Winner: The absolute first rider to cross the finish line is crowned the Four-Country Champion.
  2. The National Champions: The highest-placing rider from each specific country wins their respective home nation’s U23 National Championship jersey.
• The Age Group: It is strictly for U23 (Under 23) athletes—riders aged 18 to 22. This is the crucial developmental stepping stone right before cyclists make it to the professional WorldTour level.

A Brief History

• 2018: It started originally as the Drei-Länder-Meisterschaft (Three-Country Championship) featuring just Germany, Switzerland, and Luxembourg.
• 2023: Austria officially joined the partnership, adding the women’s U23 category to the joint weekend.
• 2024: The men’s U23 category officially expanded to include Austria as well, cementing it as the “Four-Country Championship.”
• The Hosts: The location rotates between the countries every year to keep things fair. For example, it was held in Bruchsal, Germany in 2024, and in the Ybbstaler Alps in Austria in 2025.

It has quickly become famous for showcasing future cycling superstars. In fact, the 2024 overall winner, Niklas Behrens of Germany, went on to become the U23 World Champion just a few weeks later!

The program for the 2026 Four-Country Championship Under-23 (Vier-Länder-Meisterschaft) shifts hosting duties to Luxembourg, following the rotation agreement between the four participating nations (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Luxembourg).

The event schedule splits the Men’s and Women’s U23 road races across two different dates in July:

2026 Race Schedule

• Women’s U23 Road Race (WU23)
  • Date: Sunday, July 5, 2026
  • Time: 09:00 – 15:00 CEST
• Men’s U23 Road Race (MU23)
  • Date: Sunday, July 12, 2026
  • Time: 07:30 – 16:00 CEST

What to Expect from the Event

Joint Field, Separate Titles: The riders from all four nations take off in a single mass-start pack for each category. While they fight for the prestigious overall “Four-Country Champion” title crossing the line first, the timing and results are also filtered by country to crown individual U23 National Champions for Germany (BDR), Austria (Cycling Austria), Switzerland (Swiss Cycling), and Luxembourg (FSCL).

Because the event serves as the premier development showcase for these nations, the exact local route circuits within Luxembourg are designed to mimic tough, classic European single-day courses to test the riders ahead of the Late-Summer European and World Championships.