Richmond makes bid for UCI road world championships official

As reported on VeloNews.com last week, Richmond, Virginia, is throwing its hat in the ring to host the 2015 UCI world road championships, city officials announced Tuesday.

Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones and USA Cycling CEO Steve Johnson announced the bid at a news conference in the city. Also attending were officials from Shadetree Sports, which would produce the event.

“Our city is centrally located and easy to access, offers great lodging and tourist attractions, and is a strong supporter of athletic and cultural events. There is no better place for the 2015 World Road Cycling Championships,” Jones said.

The U.S has not hosted a road world’s since the Colorado Springs event in 1986. The bidding process to host the nine-day event is very competitive. The winning city will be announced at the 2011 world championships in Copenhagen in September 2011.

Team RadioShack’s Ben King, a Virginia native, also attended, and talked of the significance of the world championships. “I’ve dreamed of bringing myself to the world championships, but to have the world championships come to us would be amazing.”

FILED UNDER: News TAGS: Ben King / Richmond / UCI World Road Championships

Steve Frothingham

VeloNews.com editor Steve Frothingham joined the gang in bike-crazy Boulder in early 2008. He is the former executive editor of the trade magazine Bicycle Retailer & Industry News. He also was a reporter and editor for The Associated Press, where he covered three presidential primaries in politics-crazy New Hampshire. His racing career began on a BMX track in 1980 and reached its zenith with several miserable road races as a category 2 in the early 90s. He subsequently retreated to cat. 3, where he has had a consistently mediocre (at best) record ever since, in road, mountain bike and cyclocross events. Follow him on Twitter at @steve_froth

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