Mont Sainte-Anne awarded 2010 Worlds

The UCI announced Tuesday at the Road World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, that Mont Sainte-Anne had won the 2010 Mountain Bike and Trial World Championships to be held August 30 through September 6.

In addition to extensive experience as a host of World Cup events, organizers of the races at the popular Canadian venue pointed to financial support of CAN$1,075,000 from Québec's Minister of Education, Leisure and Sport as a key to winning the bid. The venue's most recent major event was a round of the cross country and downhill UCI World Cup in June.

"Our team's expertise played in our favor, but without the support of the Minister of Education, Leisure and Sport, we could never have hosted the World Championships. The guarantee proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that our bid was serious, and now we will be able to organize an event that will not only leave its mark on our guests but also local people," said organizers. In 2006, the organization had to surrender its bid to host the 2008 World Championships to Val del Sole in Italy because similar criteria had not been met.

Brazil and Norway were the other candidates for the 2010 event. Mont-Sainte-Anne last held the World Championships in 1998, and is the only mountain bike venue to have held a UCI event every year since1991.

In the days to come, organizers will ask the UCI for permission to add other amateur events to the program before the Championships themselves get under way. Over 700 athletes from 50 countries are expected for the World Championship along with 275 journalists and 75,000 spectators. The region would benefit from an $18 million economic boost from those attending. By contrast, a World Cup attracts 400 athletes, 150 journalists, 50,000 visitors, and generates spinoffs of $4 million.