WASHINGTON — Many of the world’s top cyclists, including stars from this year’s Tour de France, will be in Virginia next month for the UCI Road World Championships.
More than 450,000 spectators are expected to see at least one of the series of races in person in the Richmond area, in addition to “hundreds of millions” of people around the world who local organizers and the Union Cycliste Internationale expect will watch on television between Sept. 19 and 27.
And organizers are scheduled to announce Wednesday more details about plans to ease the traffic impact of the races and all those visitors.
On Tuesday, Amtrak and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation announced that fans traveling to see the races will be able to bring their bikes on select Northeast Regional trains between Philadelphia, Washington and Richmond. The move is intended to encourage visitors to take the train instead of driving into the city along congested Interstate 95.
Normally, Amtrak requires bikes to be put in boxes and checked before they can travel along the Northeast Corridor, but between Sept. 15 and 30, any passenger who pays $25 to reserve bike spaces along with their tickets will be able to walk up to the station with their bike as-is.
Amtrak says walk-up bikes will be allowed on at Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore, Washington, Alexandria and both Richmond stations, but only a limited number of bikes will be allowed on each train.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe believes the race will have a positive economic impact, and also show people around the world what Virginia has to offer.
“It’s been a long time — Greg LeMond was the last one who won it for us, and that was 1989 … obviously they took Lance Armstrong’s win away. But it’s time for Team USA to win again, and it’s going to be won in Richmond,” McAuliffe says.
Other Americans have won gold in time trials or youth races since then, but not in premier road race events.
While most of the races involve multiple laps centered around Richmond’s downtown, the Men’s Elite Individual Time Trial Race, set for Wednesday, Sept. 23, runs nearly 33 miles from Kings Dominion down U.S. 301 then into the city.
