OPINION | Why organizing big cycling events isn't quite worth it

I know you will say, that it can be good for tourism, the area can get bigger popularity and the city or country will make a place in cycling history. But is it worth it that money? I'll show you a few examples.

This opinion article has been written by Lukáš Ronald Lukács.

In 2014, the Giro started in Ireland, specifically in Belfast. At that time, Ireland was deciding whether to invest in organizing the start of the Giro or in organizing its own race. They still don't have their own UCI race.

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In 2016, Qatar canceled the Tour of Qatar and instead organized the World Championships in Doha. The week of the championships came to an end, and since then there have been no cycling races on the territory of Qatar.

In 2017, Norway or Bergen invested in the organization of the World Championships. After the end of the Worlds, the Norwegian cycling federation went bankrupt, and Tour of Norway also had financial problems.

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In 2018, the World Championships were organized by Austria. Today, such a big and strong country only has the not-so-popular Tour of Austria which does not have widespread broadcast and collides with the Tour de France. Such a beautiful and also rich country should have a bigger and more popular race.

In 2019, the World Championships were organized by Yorkshire. Subsequently, due to a lack of funds, the Tour de Yorkshire was cancelled.

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Despite this, the Netherlands is still going its own way. In 2015, it organized the start of the Tour de France, in 2019 the European Championships, in 2022 it was the start of the Vuelta a España, in 2023 there were European Championships again and in 2030 as it is rumoured that it will host the World Championships. But apart from the one-day Amstel Gold Race and possibly ZLM Tour, they don't have any specific events at the top. For a country that has such immense cycling tradition and when I compare it with it's neighbour Belgium, it really is a huge difference.

The start of the Grand Tour or the World Championships is a celebration of cycling for the country, but those three days - or at most a week - are over and there is often nothing left. Therefore, from my point of view, it is much more worthwhile to invest in your own Tour or a race on your own territory then, for example, the UAE did.

Yes, they also will hold the World Championships in 2029, but generally they put the money into the UAE Tour, which is very successful - yes, it is successful as it is already part of the World Tour. Overall, of the organization of large events, I think the only one worth it is the organization of the European Championships, which are not so costly.

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