Quebec has withdrawn its bid to host the world road race championships in 2015, citing financial reasons.
Serge Arsenault, the head of the Quebec organising committee, explained that the city was unable to shoulder the huge costs of running the event by itself. It is understood that appeals to the provincial and federal governments failed to raise the requisite funds.
“It would have cost 20 million dollars,” Arsenault told Radio Canada. “That’s an enormous sum.”
Arsenault believes that the figure is excessive for a one-off event such as the Worlds, and he is instead focused on continuing to develop Canada’s two WorldTour races, the Grand Prix Quebec and the Grand Prix Montreal.
“To my mind, the world championships in any sport are to not really worth it,” he said. “They last a week and then afterwards nobody talks about them again. For me, it’s recurrence that counts.”
Quebec’s decision to withdraw its bid leaves just Richmond, Virginia and Oman in the running to organise the Worlds. The Richmond bid is being managed by Darach McQuaid, the brother of UCI president Pat.
The winning bid will be named at a meeting of the UCI’s executive committee at the next world championships in Copenhagen in September.