British Cycling CEO backs return of Tour de France to Britain after World Champs

British Cycling CEO Jon Dutton has backed the UK to host the Tour de France once again after the roaring success of the UCI World Championships in Glasgow, writes Sportsbeat's Milly McEvoy.

Dutton served as Director of Readiness for the 2014 Tour de France Grand Depart in Yorkshire before becoming the CEO of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.

This month marked the first ever combined UCI Cycling World Championships which was hosted in Glasgow, and Dutton believes the memorable nature of the showpiece – where Great Britain bagged 100 medals – shows the nation’s strength as a host of major events.

“It’s 10 years since we hosted it in 2014,” he said, “And we've obviously had the Tour Grand Depart in London previously.

“I just think that any of the world's biggest races will be looking at opportunities to bring their events to the UK in the future.

“And that's definitely something that British Cycling would absolutely resoundingly support.

“Why wouldn't anyone want to bring the world's best cycle races back to the UK after everything we've seen over the last 11 days?

“My hope for the future is that we work together with partners to have a strategy to bring events back so that we can really capitalise on these opportunities.

“And despite the tough economic climate that we find ourselves in, I think just once again showing that the UK can stick their hand up, deliver against complexity, adversity and challenge and do that in a really special way.

“We've just seen it in front of our eyes over the last 11 days in Scotland.”

Great Britain won 100 medals, including 34 golds, across senior, Para and junior events with Glasgow playing host to the best cyclists in track, road, mountain bike and BMX.

Scotland’s second city also staged the World Championships in artistic cycling and cycleball which opened up the two disciplines to new audiences.

For Dutton, the performances of Great Britain’s athletes exceeded their expectations, with similar hopes for the success of the World Championships more widely.

He added: “I think from a GB perspective, we've exceeded what we delivered in the last year's World Championships combined by about 20%.

“So that just shows the power of home advantage and the preparation that the team put in.

“I think from an event perspective, it was about driving economic impact through visitor numbers.

“300,000 spectators for the men's road race, we haven't yet seen the figure for the women's road race, but I dare say it's not far off that. So that will tick an enormous box.

“But also about delivering true social value across communities and that started way before the events with the investment from partners into facilities and has continued through the event using the power of inspiration to get more people riding a bike.

“And on the back of the World Championships, British Cycling will launch our new purpose, which is to bring the joy of cycling to everyone.”

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