The city of Richmond, Virginia and USA Cycling are poised to make a bid for the road World Championships, if one is to read between the lines of a not-too-cryptic press release. The cyclocross World Championships are due to be held in Louisville, Kentcuky in 2013, but the road Worlds have not been held in the US since Colorado Springs, 1986.
The city’s Major Dwight C Jones will make the announcement at a press conference on Tuesday December 21st at the Greater Richmond Convention Centre. While the World Championships are not mentioned specifically, Mayor Jones is to “Announce City’s Bid For Major Cycling Event”.
The “Event will reportedly be: “An international cycling event of this caliber has not been held in the US for almost 25 years”.
The press conference will be shown live on Richmond2015.com, which gives a not-too-subtle hint as to which year the planned bid is to be for.
The Colorado Springs World Championships were, so far, the only time that the road World Championships has been held in the United States. The men’s road race was won by Italian Moreno Argentin, while Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli took the second of her five titles in the women’s.
After next year’s championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, the 2012 events will be held in the Limburg region of the Netherlands, followed by Florence, Italy in 2013. So far the venue of the 2014 championships has not been announced.
Should Richmond make a bid for the 2015 road Worlds the US will be up against North American neighbour Canada, who has announced that it will bid, although it has yet to announce which city.