No show for the biggest races bound for Britain

The biggest bike races in the world will be held in Britain this year, but visitors to the London Bike Show unaware that the Grande Partenza of the Giro d’Italia will roll out of Belfast on Friday May 9, that Yorkshire has pledged to host “the grandest of Grand Départs” from Leeds on July 5, or that Glasgow will host the Commonwealth Games from July 23 would have left none the wiser.

Evidence that the UK is a force in world cycling powerful enough to draw the sport’s biggest events to its shores was in short supply at the ExCeL Centre, with the brilliant exception of Summit Finish, and their miniature kilometre markers.

The meteoric rise in popularity enjoyed by cycling since the Beijing Games owes much to the success of the nation’s elite riders. The triumphs of Wiggins, Froome, Cavendish, Trott et al, all still in their prime, cannot be celebrated enough, and Sir Chris Hoy’s presence at the show, in person and on the giant hoardings of the brands for whom he is an ambassador, provided a tangible demonstration of the esteem in which the public holds its cycling heroes.

It is that willingness to support our cycling heroes at the roadside that has brought the ASO and RCS to Britain and Ireland this year, and which in part has helped Glasgow to win the Commonwealth Games. The presence of Mark Cavendish at two of the three events and the more than outside chance of him providing a home victory is unlikely to have escaped the attention of those who assessed the bids to host the events. The races may well escape the attention of visitors to the London Bike Show, however. The absence of the various commercial organisations and tourist boards promoting the races from the ExCeL Centre represents a significant missed opportunity, both for the events and for the sport.