David McQuaid in race director mode; he’s looking to expand internationally
Former international rider turned businessman in the bike game, David McQuaid has just completed the running of the expanded Tour of India series and is hoping to one day gain UCI status for the events.
McQuaid runs the DMC Sports wholesale and bike clothing business based in Dublin as well as the McQuaid Cycles shop in Glasnevin in the city.
But he is also working towards branching into organising international bike races in a bigger way, having already built up some experience in the field.
“I put on the three races in India last month, all in different parts of the country,” he said.
“It was quite a logistical challenge. For now they’ve been test events, if you like. I think it’s better to do it that way in the beginning rather than risk doing it with ProTour teams in the early stages when you’d have the eyes of the world’s cycling media on you.”
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McQuaid’s involvement with pro racing in India began in 2010 when he was director for the first ever UCI race in that country, which was won by JJ Haedo of Saxo Bank. The race was effectively a criterium, and was followed by two races in 2011 spaced two days apart.
That was a more complex undertaking in that it involved closing roads on a rolling basis both in the countryside and in densely populated city areas.
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“One of the races in 2011 was a crit, essentially the same as the previous year,” said McQuaid.
“And then the other was a road race that we took out into the countryside and also the more built up areas. It was a great success, a huge relief and won by Elia Viviani of Liquigas.”
When three events were listed for 2013, McQuaid suggested to his local partners that they trial the three-part series with smaller teams. It was held last month in Delhi, Mumbai and Kashmir and featured a number of national line-ups - mostly from Asian nations - as well as the Astana development team. McQuaid also organised invites for two selections from Ireland; UCD CC and Lakeside Wheelers.
“When you are doing something like this as test events, you definitely get to know the small problems; things like how hard it can be to sort out visas quickly, the nitty gritty of it. So it’s all these little things that test events like this are made for; trying to continually improve the process. It’s important to learn that and get it right because when you later invite ProTour teams it’s me and my reputation on the line. So I’m trying to take it to as good a level as possible at this stage.”
He added that teams like Radioshack and Liquigas had travelled to India in 2011 and had enjoyed the experience.
“I feel I could get them back for the series. But obviously you have to get it at the stage where you don’t mess them around when they come, that everything goes well. Because if you mess them around it would be hard to get them back again.”
“I‘ve a company, Velosolutions, that I do this kind of thing through. Ever since I quit riding the bike I've been looking to get more into the technical side of things. Even when I went backpacking in Australia and New Zealand after hanging up my racing wheels I put on a crit in New Zealand.”
“I organise the finishes at the Tour of Langkawi and did the same at the Tour of Ireland, before DMC Sports was as busy as it is now. I did four Tours de France working for ITV so the CV is coming together nicely. The role in India was definitely the biggest I’ve taken on and as well as working towards doing more of this kind of work, it has the added bonus of increasing some cash flow to keep growing DMC here at home.”
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