Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Government backs British bid for UCI Road World Championships

Flagship event was specifically mentioned in today's Comprehensive Spending Review...

The government says it is backing a bid to bring the UCI Road World Championships back to the UK for the first time in nearly four decades, with the proposed event looking likely to be based in the North of England.

In today's Comprehensive Spending Review, announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, the government said it was committed to bringing more top level sporting events to the UK, with the UCI Road World Championships singled out as one of two events where it said it would support bids.

In its Spending Review and Autumn Statement document, HM Treasury said: "The government is increasing its funding for elite sport to build on the success of Olympic and Paralympic games at London 2012 and support Team GB’s ambition for success in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

"Following the success of hosting London 2012 and the Rugby Union World Cup the government will support the ambition to host the cycling Road World Championships and 2021 Rugby League World Cup in the Northern Powerhouse. "

British Cycling chief executive Ian Drake said this evening that he welcomed the government's continued support for elite sport and to lend its backing to a bid for the road worlds, adding that such high-profile events help ensure "a participation legacy for the sport" that could boost the economy by up to £640 million.

Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Sir Gary Verity said earlier this year that bringing the UCI Road World Championships to the region was a logical next step following the phenomenally successful Grand Depart of the Tour de France in 2014 and inaugural Tour de Yorkshire in May, and that preliminary talks had been held with British Cycling.

Tour success strengthens Yorkshire’s World Championships

The UCI Road World Championships have  been held in the UK on three occasions – in Liverpool in 1922, Leicester in 1970 and at West Sussex’s Goodwood motor racing circuit in 1982.

Great Britain's cyclists have enjoyed success in the event in recent years, with Mark Cavendish taking the men's road title in 2011 and Sir Bradley Wiggins winning the time trial in 2014, while Nicole Cooke in 2008 and Lizzie Armitstead in September this year have both won the rainbow jersey in the women's road race.

Next year's UCI Track World Championships will take place at London's Lee Valley Velopark, where Team GB's track cyclists were dominant at the 2012 Olympic Games.

The earliest the UK could host the road equivalent is 2019, with next year's event taking place in Doha, Qatar, while the 2017 and 2018 editions will be held respectively in Bergen, Norway, and Innsbruck, Austria.

Verity said: "We welcome today’s Government spending review which follows the Chancellor’s statement of support in February 2015 for a Yorkshire bid for the UCI Road World Championships. 

"We have a long and distinguished history in cycling, and through hosting world class events have placed ourselves firmly on the path to being the European capital of cycling. 

"The past two years alone have reminded the world how Yorkshire has cycling at its heart, not just as a sport but both as a form of recreation and transport.

"The phenomenal and widely documented success of the Tour de France Grand Départ and the new Tour de Yorkshire have demonstrated an appetite for cycling not only from our local authorities, but residents, media, schools, visitors and of course from the riders who have experienced racing on our roads.

"Nowhere else in the UK do these things combine and together they make an incredibly strong case for the World Championships to be held in Yorkshire."

He added: "We look forward to further discussions with both the government and British Cycling."

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

Add new comment

10 comments

Avatar
HalfWheeler | 8 years ago
0 likes

I think Lincoln would be the best bet like this years Brit' championships. I's a bit further east so potentially drier than the Pennines, it certainly ticks all the aesthetic 'eye candy' boxes for TV, the climb up Michaelgate umpteen times would thin the bunch out nicely... 

 

Only thing is you probably couldn't hold the GP in Lincoln that year, would probably be pushing it.

Avatar
Chris James | 8 years ago
0 likes

The Tour de Yorkshire and London-Surrey Classic are spin off events for the Grand Depart and the Olympics. British Cycling didn't even support Yorkshire's bid for the Tour de France, so I can't see any obvious desire by BC to only 'let' big events happen in London or Yorkshire.

The 2015 nat road race champs were in Lincoln, 2014 Abergavenny, 2013 Glasgow.

Last year's World Cup cyclocross race was in Milton Keynes. The 2015 cyclocross nat champs is in Abergavenny, 2014 Derby, 2013 Bradford.

Re the Worlds, the only expresion of interest in hosting the event that I have heard of from this country is from Gary Verity and Welcome to Yorkshire.

Avatar
racyrich | 8 years ago
0 likes

I'd have thought the main criterion for choosing a course is accessability. There may well be some lovely racing roads in the Pennines but how can anyone get there to see it?

I've been to all the European Worlds from 2005 in Madrid onwards and the ones on the edge of town, with a rail link from somewhere on the course to the nearest city, have the best crowds. Spain in 2014 was a disaster precisely because it didn't have those links. In fact we had to drive from the UK as the usual plane, train, hotel hirebike combination wasn't there.

 

Factor in needing hotel rooms for tens of thousands of people, parking somewhere for tens of thousands of camper vans, and suddenly it's Leeds or nowhere.

Avatar
Chris James replied to racyrich | 8 years ago
0 likes

racyrich wrote:

I'd have thought the main criterion for choosing a course is accessability. There may well be some lovely racing roads in the Pennines but how can anyone get there to see it?

.......

Factor in needing hotel rooms for tens of thousands of people, parking somewhere for tens of thousands of camper vans, and suddenly it's Leeds or nowhere.

 Or Manchester. Or Sheffield.

Avatar
Gkam84 | 8 years ago
0 likes

HalfWheeler, there are only two places that British Cycling are interested in letting big events happen....London or Yorkshire.....so that would be your choice I think

Avatar
Morat | 8 years ago
0 likes

Notsofast - excellent!

HalfWheeler - The Penines are a bit far West  1

Avatar
HalfWheeler | 8 years ago
0 likes

Have thought about this before, where could you host it? The Pennine climate at the end of Sept might be a bit harsh.

Avatar
monkeytrousers replied to HalfWheeler | 8 years ago
0 likes

HalfWheeler wrote:

Have thought about this before, where could you host it? The Pennine climate at the end of Sept might be a bit harsh.

 

And it won't be in Norway?

Avatar
Morat | 8 years ago
0 likes

Does this mean we would get the Women's Worlds as well? Because we should, seeing as our female cyclists are bloody brilliant.

Avatar
Notsofast replied to Morat | 8 years ago
0 likes

Morat wrote:

Does this mean we would get the Women's Worlds as well? Because we should, seeing as our female cyclists are bloody brilliant.

 

You get the whole event, so TT's, Road, men, women, juniors etc.

Latest Comments