Yorkshire Bids To Host Uci Road World Champs
Welcome to Yorkshire has submitted a bid to host the UCI Road World Championships in 2019.
Chief executive Sir Gary Verity formally presented the application to UCI president Brian Cookson with the ambition of bringing another cycling event to the county.
Welcome to Yorkshire’s bid was compiled in partnership with British Cycling and UK Sport, while the UK Government has guaranteed to underwrite the full cost of the event and back it with £24m of investment.
The bid features a race programme that will include starts in North, South, East and West Yorkshire, full details of which will be made available if the bid is successful following the UCI’s annual congress in Doha this October.
The bid is the result of months of planning, and unrelated to Welcome to Yorkshire’s offer last week to step in and help organise the UEC Road European Championships following Nice’s decision to withdraw from hosting. Those Championships will now take place next month in Brittany.
Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive, Sir Gary Verity, said: “It would be an absolute honour to host the 2019 UCI Road World Championships.
“Yorkshire has everything a bike race could wish for. We can promise a gruelling but spectacular range of routes, huge crowds and the very warmest of welcomes. We are sure the world’s best riders will find our beautiful roads both challenging and exhilarating in equal measure.
“The Tour de France Grand Départ in 2014 cemented the county’s place as a world-class cycling destination and since then I have been proud to oversee the launch and growth of the Tour de Yorkshire – a race which is now regarded as one of the most dramatic and well-supported events in the sport.
“Make no mistake, cycling is in Yorkshire’s DNA and hosting the 2019 UCI Road World Championships will only reaffirm that.
“Yorkshire is ready to embrace the Championships. We’ve turned the county yellow once before, and now we want to see it swathed with those coveted rainbow bands.”
Image: ©Getty Images
