(Montreal) Preparations are well underway for the 2026 World Road Cycling Championships, which will be held in Montreal, but the president of the organizing committee admits that everything is not completely wrapped up.
“We’ve been working hard for two years already. Even if it’s our job to organize races of this nature, we did it very early, “said Sébastien Arsenault during a videoconference on the sidelines of the Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec et Montréal (GPCQM ), of which he is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
“The most important thing is the courses. There are several ways to approach the routes. First, it’s a telegenic show: we’re not in a stadium. We have to look with our public partners at what we would like to highlight while the eyes of the world are on Montreal. Do we want to take this street, this section? Are we going to the South Shore? Do we want to start from the Olympic Stadium? We are evaluating all of this.
“You also have to respect everyone. There is a difference between a village, the city of Quebec and a metropolis like Montreal. We see it with the Montreal Marathon every year, you can’t run where you want, just like you can’t ride where you want, he pointed out. We don’t want to block sections of the city near hospitals, for example. It’s very complex. There are 11 races, potentially 13 with the addition of women and under 23s. […] We want to impress runners and television, while minimizing the impact on fellow citizens. »
There is also work to be done in terms of the financial package. Arsenault noted that in many cases, it is the national federation of the host country that expresses the desire to host the event before setting up an organizing committee. In Montreal, it was Arsenault’s group that went for these Worlds.
“At the level of the organization chart, we are in the process of reflection, in particular at the level of the next hires. We did not get the full budget that I think is necessary. I have cost reports – unverified – coming in from other Worlds and I see that the estimated $40 million I advanced in 2020 before the pandemic still stands. Then it will depend. Does the City of Montreal provide all services? Will the Sûreté du Québec provide everything without sending us an invoice?
“Three years from the event, I still have a bit of a sense of urgency, of panic. But when I go around my people, I realize that things are going well on several points. We will have to find a bilingual national media partner who will want to absorb the costs, unlike the GPCQMs, while we absorb the production costs.
“The specification is voluminous. Over the next 12 months, there will be several hires, including sales, marketing and operations. »
Montreal hosted the first road Worlds to be held outside of Europe in 1974. Legendary Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx and Frenchwoman Geneviève Gambillon were then crowned on Mount Royal.
