05.06.08 - UCI Road - The Welland Race will have to postpone its debut

May 5, 2008– The Ontario professional road cycling scene will have to wait another year to see the return of UCI racing to the province. After the announcement of the 2008 National Calendar, the whole Canadian cycling community was thrilled to see the return of professional UCI racing to Ontario for August 3rd, 2008. Unfortunately, the organizing committee faced struggles with funding and could not move forward this year.

“With respect to all parties involved, we would rather postpone the 2008 edition of the Welland Race. The teams need to know what’s going on now and we cannot give them a guarantee at the moment. We would rather keep on working, and hope for a better turn of events next year” said Willy Coyle, head of the organizing committee.

It appears that the refusal of their funding application by the Government of Ontario was the final nail in the coffins for this year’s edition.

“We got denied our funding application by the provincial government, because we were not in competition with another city to host this event. We all know that the only events in pro cycling where you have to bid are the Pro Tour or the World Championship events. These events are not realistic for our market, nor with our mission to develop young professional cyclists from Ontario, while making the America Tour is. We will work hard with the provincial government over the years to come, to ensure that professional cycling will be eligible for provincial government funding like other provinces in Canada. We were really counting on some support from the Government of Ontario, especially to start this event. Unfortunately, if the policy doesn’t change, it will take a long time before we see the return of UCI racing to Ontario” added Mr. Coyle.

This means that the only UCI road event in Canada will remain the Tour de Beauce in Québec from June 10-15.