The 2023 UCI Road World Championships will look a whole lot different to any that we may have seen before. Yes, it will be back in Europe after an Australian foray but this time it will be nestled among 12 other cycling disciplines and somewhat a ‘leap of faith’ for Glasgow as it hosts the first of the mega-events to be held every four years.
It was a plan that started to unfurl over a breakfast meeting in Bangkok, between then-recently elected UCI President David Lappartient – who stepped into the position in 2017 – and the director of events for VisitScotland, Paul Bush, on the sidelines of the SportAccord summit.
“David said ‘I have an idea’,” recounted Bush on the sidelines of the racing at the World Championships in Wollongong. “And part of his vision was to aggregate the World Championships.
“When he said ‘What do you think?’, my response was that would be amazing because obviously Scotland’s hosted Commonwealth Games, Ryder Cup, European Championships – in evolution terms it was the natural thing for us to do.”
The 11-day event, which Bush said had a budget of £54 million, will be centred in Glasgow but will spread out to other locations across Scotland, with Glentress Forest and Fort William hosting the mountain bike events and the road events also branching out.
All in all, from August 3 to 13 in 2023, more than 200 world titles will be awarded across the 13 UCI World Championships – BMX Freestyle Flatland, BMX Freestyle Park, BMX Racing, Gran Fondo, Indoor Cycling, MTB cross-country, MTB Downhill, MTB Marathon, Para-cycling Road, Para-cycling Track, Road, Track and Trials.
“There’s no manual, it’s never been done … but I think part of the excitement, and part of the scary bit is that it’s not been done,” Bush told Cyclingnews, adding that he is, between the vision and combined expertise of the host nation and the UCI, nevertheless confident.
“It will not be easy, we all know that, but anything in life that is worth doing is not easy.”
Spreading the benefit
One thing, however, that will make it easier is that the host of the 2014 Commonwealth Games not only has a history of delivering on big events, but already has much of the infrastructure in place.
“That was another advantage,” said Bush. “We already have a velodrome built for the games in 2014, a BMX track which was built for the European Championships in 2018 and the World Cup mountain bike downhill at Fort William has been established…
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