Only cities outside Europe are being considered to acknowledge interest from non-European countries
The International Cycling Union (UCI) has confirmed that the Sultanate of Oman has joined the list of candidates bidding to host the 2015 road World Championships. The announcement was made after last week’s Tour of Oman that the Middle Eastern country was to join Québec, Canada and Richmond, Virginia as hopefuls to secure the event; the UCI has now officially confirmed it.
“It was decided at the UCI Management Committee in Melbourne last year that only candidatures from outside Europe would be accepted for the 2015 edition of the World Championships in order to acknowledge the increasing interest of non-European countries in organising the Championships,” reads the UCI statement.
The World Championships were first held in 1927, at the Nürburgring, Germany but it was not until 1974 that they ventured outside Europe; the races in Montréal, Canada were to serve as a rehearsal for the 1976 Olympic race; as if to put an official seal of approval on taking the event outside Europe, the race was won by the legendary Eddy Merckx.
Just three years later they were held in San Cristóbal, Venezuela, where Italian great Francesco Moser took the title; there was then a nine year gap to 1986 before the championships went to Colorado Springs in the USA, where Moreno Argentin, another Italian took men’s rainbow jersey and Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli took the second of her five women’s titles.
Since then, the Worlds have been held outside Europe every five years or so, with Utsunomiya, Japan hosting in 1990, Duitama, Colombia hosting in 1995, and Hamilton, Canada hosting in 2003.
Last year’s races were held in Melbourne and Geelong, Australia; Thor Hushovd and Giorgia Bronzini took the road races, and Fabian Cancellara and Emma Pooley won the time trials.
This year’s championships will be held in the Danish capital, Copenhagen; so far the 2012 event has been confirmed for the Limburg region of the Netherlands, and the 2013 event will be held in Florence, Italy. So far the venue for the 2014 race has yet to be confirmed.
The three venues will now be examined during the evaluation stage. The UCI Management Committee will meet in Copenhagen on September 21st and 22nd, during this year’s championships, to decide on the awarding of the 2015 championships.