Darach McQuaid has worked on the Giro d’Italia coming to Ireland next May and is hopeful the legacy of that event can be the resurrection of the pro Tour of Ireland in 2015 with UCI 2.1 status to help attract significant teams.
By Brian Canty
The Tour of Ireland is on course to return to these shores in 2015 with a five-day 2.1 ranked race on the cards, according to Dublin-based sports marketing firm Shadetree Sports.
It had been hoped to resurrect the event for next year but Darach McQuaid of Shadetree has admitted it was “more realistic” for the event to happen in 2015 instead.
The race was a fixture on the Irish cycling calendar in 2007, 2008 and 2009, with Fáilte Ireland on board as its sponsor before a financial shortfall led to the cancellation of the 2010 edition.
Advertisement
But McQuaid said the return of the event is at the “forefront of conversations”, adding some potential backers have already expressed an interest.
“At this stage, realistically, we’re looking at the Tour of Ireland for 2015, not 2014,” explained McQuaid.
Related News
“The UCI have already closed the calendar but we’re engaged fairly closely at the moment with some big brands, talking about various subjects.
“We’ve put quite a bit of investment into marketing materials around the Tour of Ireland; we launched a commercial-business website called www.cyclingrenaissance.com pitching certain commercial areas of the Giro to spark (interest in) the Tour of Ireland. And we’re in talks with major brands seeking to come on board.
“In terms of any commercial meetings, the Tour is at forefront of conversations. This is what you might call the glow period; the anticipation and the positive coverage that we’re getting for any announcement around the Giro is helping us instigate conversations on the Tour of Ireland.
“We’re certainly taking advantage of that, and as I may have said, brands are actually approaching me whereas before I’d be knocking on people’s doors.”
Despite conventional wisdom that the Giro must run well before a Tour of Ireland is given a green light, McQuaid refutes that and says it can return on its own merits.
“I’m determined to make the Tour of Ireland happen but even if the Giro wasn’t coming, Irish cycling has been given a huge boost this year. Look at how Nicolas (Roche), Dan (Martin), Philip (Deignan), Sam (Bennett) and Martyn (Irvine) have raised the profile.
“We’ve a great crop coming up behind those and I think there’s enough of an incentive to re-launch a Tour of Ireland without the Giro. But the Giro will hopefully give it that boost that’s needed to put it on the commercial radar.
“Having said that, I’m very conscious that we must put on a good show. At the end of the day, it’s down to the Government to fund this so it’s about putting our best foot forward next May and I’m absolutely confident that’s going to be the case.”
(Advertisement)
Topics
