On the eve of the 2023 Glasgow World Championships, UCI CEO, Peter Van Den Abeele is full of excitement and anticipation ahead of what could be the biggest and best World Championship of all time.
"These are the cycling Olympics. There are 132 nationalities here, a phenomenal success," says the 57-year-old Belgian in a pre-event interview with Sporza. "The idea of this Super World Championship came from UCI President David Lappartient and originated from the European Championships in Glasgow in 2018, where all cycling disciplines were united at the time."
Indeed, in Glasgow a wide variety of cycling's different disciplines will be battling it out for their respective Rainbow Jerseys. This however comes with it's own problems for the UCI and race organisers, as Van Den Abeele explains.
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"Logistically it's a very difficult thing to do. Both for us and for the national federations. For example, this World Cup is not only in Glasgow, but also across Scotland. The trip to Fort William for the downhill takes 3 hours," he says. "It is not easy to find a location for all disciplines in the vicinity of the organizing city."
"It is absolutely the intention to also include the Gravel World Championship (not in place in Glasgow e.d) and the Cyclocross World Championship," adds the Belgian. "Cyclocross will always be a difficult case. It is a winter activity. In principle, it starts in September, but we are already seeing that moving more and more towards October."
"The integration of cyclocross may be difficult, but never say never. Gravel will certainly be there in 2027," he concludes. "This is definitely the Olympic Games of the bicycle."
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