Twenty-seven years after Plouay in Brittany, France will host the World Championships in Haute-Savoie in a format extended to all cycling disciplines. The Côte de Domancy, which had crowned Bernard Hinault in 1980, should once again be the scene of online events.
The UCI announced during its congress this Thursday morning that France would host the cycling world championships in 2027, which has not happened since 2000 in Plouay (Morbihan).
Two days earlier, the management committee had voted by acclamation for this Haute-Savoie candidacy (instead of the one proposed by the Netherlands) while the delegation led by the department president Martial Saddier, with Bernard Hinault as ambassador, had just finished his two-hour speech.
Support that weighed
In 2027, the World Championships will take place for the second time, after those in Glasgow next year, in a special format that will bring together all cycling disciplines (13 in 2023, 19 in 2027) every four years for two weeks, as for Olympic Games. He obviously weighed the support obtained by the French candidacy, starting with that of the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, who intervened directly by recording a video for the file kept by the Haute-Savoie department.
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“Everything happened quickly, I had just been elected head of department at the beginning of July 2021 when I met David Lappartient in Châtel at a cycling event.says Martial Saddier. We did not know each other personally and I asked him when we would have the Domancy coast again. (in Sallanches where Bernard Hinault had been world champion in 1980) for the World Championships. He exposed the calendar, he projected us to 2028 but then he spoke of 2027, of this new format every four years. We, a little crazy and without fear, immediately said bank. We shook hands with David, he didn’t think he was serious but that’s how the adventure began. I then contacted Bernard Hinault to become our ambassador. »
David Lappartient, President of the UCI
“It will be time to have a World Championship where grand tour specialists and climbers have the opportunity to become world champions”
So it was obvious that the history of Sallanches, where Bernard Hinault had been crowned in 1980, but also Eddy Merckx among the fans in 1964, was going to weigh in the balance. On February 5, the candidacy was officially announced in the Côte de Domancy, as if to further underline the historical scope of the dossier.
If the details of the sites have not been revealed publicly, everything points to the route of the main event of road racing in 2027 being inspired by that of 1980. “It will be time to have a World Championship where grand tour specialists and climbers have the opportunity to become world champions.rejoiced David Lappartient, president of the UCI. It is the know-how and the experience that have been rewarded, in an exceptional natural environment. »
A velodrome to build
Michel Callot, president of the French Cycling Federation (FFC), who had seen a first candidacy rejected in 2018 for the 2020 World Cup, was also moved by the announcement of the election of the steering committee: “It is the satisfaction of seeing our perseverance bear fruit, the pride of hearing the representatives of many countries repeat that the World Championships in France are the guarantee of a perfect organization. »
The velodrome, which will be built from scratch to host the track events, will continue to be the legacy of these World Championships, “in the form of an Arena room”suggested David Lappartient, with his location yet to be revealed. “What we can already say is that it will not be built in an agricultural area but in an urbanized area complying with environmental standards”said Martial Saddier, chairman of the department.
“There was a lack of a covered velodrome in the east of the countryMichel Callot says. We have been fighting for one for years. (the sites of Saint-Étienne and Meyzieu, in the suburbs of Lyon, had not been completed), this world will finally fill this void. »
These 2027 World Championships will take place from September 11-26, and not in August like the ones in Glasgow (3-13) next year. The event will bring together nearly 200 nations and 3,500 athletes, “It will be much more than the Winter Olympics”Martial Saddier said.
Montreal confirmed for 2026
After Glasgow (Scotland) in 2023, Zürich (Switzerland) in 2024, Kigali (Rwanda) in 2025, it is Montreal (Canada) that will host the World Championship in 2026, 52 years after Eddy Merckx’s second coronation in 1974. formalization was supposed to be announced last year in Leuven, but was postponed for local political reasons.