Announcement of courses could come in next three months, collegiate championships as dry run
The races are over a year and a half away but a tryout of the course for the 2015 world road race championships in Richmond is planned for next May, with the national collegiate championships due to be held there between the second and fourth of that month.
The area will see the world championships held on US soil for only the second time ever, with the Richmond event coming a full 29 years after the worlds was run off in Colorado Springs.
UCI official Matthew Knight has travelled to the Richmond area to inspect the courses for the championships; these have not been made public thus far, but once approved the organisers will be in a position to do so.
According to the championship’s chief operating officer Tim Miller, Knight’s inspection is an important part of the processes. He told the Times Dispatch that the inspection “puts us on the 5-yard line” toward obtaining the final approval for the courses.
He added that the inspection could lead to modifications to the four courses that will be used in the course of the championships; final approval could come as soon as mid-January, and a public announcement then likely to follow six to eight weeks later.
The national collegiate championships in Richmond between May second and fourth would then enable the courses to be used in competition. “That will be a really invaluable tool for us,” he said. “It will give everybody an opportunity to prepare — from volunteer training, to police participation to marketing — in advance of the world championships.”
Next year’s worlds will be held in Ponferrada in Spain. Richmond will then following September 2015, with up to 450,000 spectators projected to attend. Over 300 million TV viewers are also predicted.
According to the organiser’s calculations, the event could bring $158.1 million to the region, many multiples of the cost of hosting the championships.