When the inaugural Tour of Guangxi was announced as a late addition to the 2017 WorldTour calendar earlier in the year, the news came as a surprise. The Wanda Sports-backed venture was a project that came together behind the scenes with little information forthcoming before the announcement, which came after the UCI had finalised the 2017 WorldTour calendar.
One of the key figures in the creation and execution of the October race was Tom Van Damme. Since 2010, Van Damme has been the Belgian cycling president and president of the UCI Road Commission, and has been a member of the UCI Management Committee and Professional Cycling Council from 2013. In 2017, he was also an early candidate for the position of UCI President.
"I have to say that in my view, it is a tremendous success and very important in the development of cycling, and the UCI WorldTour," Van Damme told Cyclingnews at the Tour of Guangxi.
ADVERTISEMENT
Created to honour the legacy of the 2008 Beijing Games, the Tour of Beijing from 2010 to 2014 was China's first WorldTour race. Due to financial, political and sporting reasons, the race was ended in 2014.
With China's professional cycling potential yet to be fully realised, it was no surprise that Brian Cookson and the UCI were invested in returning the WorldTour to the world's most populous country. Although Cookson was defeated at the September elections, with Frenchman David Lappartient winning in convincing style, Van Damme was on the ground to witness the return of WorldTour racing to China.
"It is important we understand it is the end of the season and you have to take care of the conditions at the end of the season with riders," he said. "You need a circuit that is adapted for the end of the season and that is what I think Wanda and the organisers did perfectly."
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/2AafmN6
No comments:
Post a Comment