Sport Ireland hoping to increase attendance from the 8,000 that watched the inaugural event last year
“Flanders Classics are enthusiastic,” Sport Ireland chief executive Dr Una May confirmed to The Irish Times. “They were very happy with it last year. And the cyclists gave us very good reviews, which is also very important as well. It seems like everybody enjoyed it and everybody felt it was a success. So it something for us to build on, for sure.”
The inaugural race on December 11th attracted some of the top names in the sport, with Tour de France star Wout van Aert winning the men’s event and eventual World Cup victor Fem van Empel taking the women’s contest. An estimated crowd of 8,000 spectators attended, something hailed by Flanders Classics as very positive for a race outside the traditional cyclo-cross heartlands of Belgium and the Netherlands.
May believes that attendance figure can be expanded upon next time around. The race was organised at short notice after it replaced a round originally planned for London and, with a longer lead-in time, there is greater scope to publicise the event and also to secure a strong budget for it. She indicated that Sport Ireland and Flanders Classics will invest in the project, and that additional backers will be sought.
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