Audax (cycling)

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Find sources: "Audax" cycling – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2010) This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources. Find sources: "Audax" cycling – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Audax is a cycling sport in which participants attempt to cycle long distances within a pre-defined time limit.^[1] Audax is a non-competitive sport: success in an event is measured by its completion. Audax has its origins in Italian endurance sports of the late nineteenth century, and the rules were formalised in France in the early twentieth century.

In the present day, there are two forms of Audax: the original group-riding style, Euraudax, governed by Unions des Audax, and the free-paced (allure libre) style usually known as Randonneuring, governed by Audax Club Parisien. The original form is mostly popular in France, but also in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Randonneuring is popular in many countries including Malaysia, France, Great Britain, Singapore, Australia, Canada, the USA and China.

In late nineteenth-century Italy, day-long "challenge" sports became popular. Participants aimed to cover as much distance as possible and prove themselves audax ("audacious").^[2] The first recorded audax cycling event took place on June 12, 1897, when twelve Italian cyclists attempted the challenge of cycling from Rome to Naples, a distance of 230 km, during daylight hours. Similar events became popular elsewhere, and in 1904 French journalist Henri Desgrange produced Audax regulations, which belonged to his Auto newspaper.

Under the Audax regulations, riders rode as a group. Successful riders were awarded a certificate called a Brevet d'Audax. A group of successful audax cyclists formed the Audax Club Parisien (ACP), which took over the organisation of Audax events on Desgrange's behalf. In 1920, there was a disagreement between Desgrange and the ACP. Desgrange withdrew ACP's permission to organise events under his Audax regulations, and ACP created its own allure libre (free-paced) version of the sport, where successful riders were awarded certificates called Brevets des Randonneurs. Desgrange continued to promote the original Audax rules, and on July 14, 1921, the Union of Parisian Audax Cyclistes (UACP) was formed, which became the Union of French Audax in January 1956.^[3]