Make no mistake: a new page in international cycling will be opened this Thursday, August 3, 2023. Surprise, it will be in a land hitherto unaccustomed to welcoming the world cycling elite, in all its guises. shapes
The first edition of the UCI all-discipline world championships begins in Glasgow, Scotland. For eleven days, until Sunday August 13, it will hand out world titles in spades, in thirteen cycling disciplines. In total, no less than 8.000 runners will cross paths in the Scottish town and its surroundings.
The event is unprecedented. But it is not intended to remain unique. The UCI has shaken up its habits by deciding to group together, once every four years in a pre-Olympic year, all its disciplines. Glasgow inaugurates the list. The French region of Haute-Savoie will follow in 2027, with an even more extensive program: 19 disciplines. The UCI steering committee appointed it last September as host of the second edition of the “Ssuper Worlds » cycling. Its candidacy was preferred to that of the Netherlands.
The UCI and its president, David Lappartient, do not hold back their superlatives. Glasgow 2023 is shaping up, they say, as “ the biggest cycling event in history"
Excessive ? The next few days will already provide the beginnings of an answer. But even before the first pedal strokes, the world cycling body has already partly succeeded in its bet. She announced it on the eve of the opening: the 2023 Worlds will be the most publicized in history.
The result of a three-year collaboration between the UCI, the organizing committee and its partners, the Scottish Government, Glasgow Life, UK Sport and local authorities, television coverage will exceed that of all previous Worlds. Between Eurovision Sport – the sports division of the EBU – for Europe and IMG in the rest of the world, the event will be broadcast in more than 120 countries. In total, record television coverage with 240 hours of live and 30 hours of news and highlights.
Comment from David Lappartient: “ Since 2016, the EBU and IMG have ensured that our world championships receive maximum exposure. This year, television production will reach record levels"
For Scotland, the stakes are not small. The organizers expect more than a million spectators. One challenge at a time exciting and frightening” in a city of 632.000 inhabitants. Paul Bush, president of the organizing committee, explains: “ The 2023 UCI Worlds are not only the biggest in the history of cycling, they are also the biggest sporting event in Scottish history, even bigger than a Rugby World Cup. »
Scary, indeed. But Scotland, and especially Glasgow, is not their first attempt. The city hosted, with Berlin for athletics, the first edition in 2018 of the European multi-sport championships. Four years earlier, it had organized the Commonwealth Games. Paul Bush was already in charge. A sure value.
