Azerbaijan able to host European, World Championships

/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan is able to host the European and World Championships among elite athletes category in cycling, says David Lappartient, the president of the European Cycling Union, in an interview with state news agency AzerTac.

“Why not?” he stressed, adding that Azerbaijan has the cycling infrastructure, which meets all international standards. “Azerbaijan has a very strong cycling team. All these give opportunity to Azerbaijan to hold the European and World Championships among elite athletes.”

Lappartient also hailed the Tour d'Azerbaidjan, which has been held in the country since 2013. This year, the competition hosted some 23 teams from around the world.

The president of the UEC visited the capital of Azerbaijan as part of the 1st European Games, which is currently underway in Baku, hosting more than 6,000 athletes from 50 countries. The Games features 20 sporting events including three cycling disciplines—the mountain bike, BMX, and road cycling.

“We saw the excellent organization of the first European Games in Baku. The competitions in all three types of cycling were conducted at a high level. In the future, we will recommend the European Olympic Committee to include the track competition in the program of the continental Games,” he said.

Lappartient also attended a meeting of the steering Committee of the European Cycling Union in Baku, which discussed several issues including preparations for the upcoming European Championships, reform in the professional cycling and velo track races and etc.

Commenting on the steering committee meeting, Sahib Alakbarov, the vice-president of the Azerbaijan Cycling Federation said holding the meeting in Baku is very significant.

“I think that holding such a significant event will give an impetus for more development of cycling in Azerbaijan in the future,” he said.

To accommodate the European Games, the appropriate infrastructure was established in the country for cycling competitions, which have hosted more than 300 cyclists.

The BMX Velopark, which has a capacity to host 1,000 spectators, was built especially for the Baku 2015 European Games. The venue will host a BMX cycling competition scheduled for June 26-28.

In addition, the Mountain Bike Velopark, located in the northwest of the city was also constructed to be a venue for the mountain bike competitions.

“The Velotrack velodrome in Baku is the best sporting venue in Europe,” Wojciech Valkevich, the president of UEC told AzerTac.

He said that Azerbaijan has all the conditions for the development of cycling.

Speaking about the development of cycling in Azerbaijan, he said that the country needs some 5-7 years to successfully develop cycling in order to win big competitions. "With this attention, that the government shows to this sport, I think that the victory of Azerbaijani cyclists is around the corner," - said the honorary president of the European Cycling Union.