The Tour of Ireland saw the Irish national team (above) compete with international and Irish pros across the country.
By Shane Stokes
Darach McQuaid has confirmed the much-anticipated return of the Tour of Ireland will not occur next season, but said that he is "very optimistic" the race will be running again by 2016.
McQuaid was heavily involved in the previous Tour of Ireland which ran from 2007 to 2009 and saw top pro teams compete in a race that also featured many Irish riders.
Since then he has played a major part in bringing the Giro d’Italia to Ireland, successfully staging a bid which saw the first three days of the race take place north and south of the border in May.
He said during that period that he was confident he would be able to piggyback on the success of that event in helping to resurrect the Tour of Ireland, and retains that optimistic outlook.
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“We have been spending the summer since the Giro talking to some very big brands,” he told stickybottle.
“The engagement in cycling is now very, very strong. But the UCI have a clear deadline. Late June is the deadline for application and late August in when the UCI road commission signs off on the calendar.
“So rather than try to pressurise somebody to make a multi-million Euro decision for 2015, it is better to look for a good partner that will sign up for 2016 and onwards in a multi-year agreement. That is what we are working on at the moment.”
The race, like the 2009 edition above, could be used to showcase the beauty of the Irish countryside to a global audience.
Asked how certain he was that the race would go ahead in two years’ time, he expressed confidence.
“I am very optimistic…very optimistic,” he said.
“But we are doing it the right way. Number one, you have to pay a significant fee to put a race on the calendar. In this day and age you don’t throw money away like that. I also don’t want to mess the UCI around.
“When we have one of these brands signed up, that is when the application will go in. I am hoping that next spring we will be looking at that situation.”
McQuaid said it was possible a decision would be reached earlier than that, but that an easy-does-it approach would be more productive than trying to get backing signed off sooner rather than later.
“When you are talking to companies at this level of funding, you don’t want to put a gun to their head," he said.
A young Mark Cavendish sprints in to win stage 2 into Killarney, Co Kerry, back in 2009.
"They need to make decisions in their own time and with their own methodology. Springtime is my target to have this locked and loaded, and then we would apply to the UCI and talk about calendar dates.”
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McQuaid did not state which companies he had been speaking to but confirmed they are both Irish and international businesses.
“Given the appetite from international television for the Tour of Ireland, it makes sense to have a business abroad as well,” he said, refering to the type of company he expects could ultimately step up as title sponsor.
“But it is whomever writes the cheque; if an Irish company that only sells in Ireland – which is pretty rare – wants to sign up, that’s fine, but I am doing my best to particularly talk to companies which have major north-south interests.
"Given the success of the Giro d’Italia in Northern Ireland, for me it is 100 percent a north-south endeavour. And that reflects the types of brands that might be involved.”
Darach McQuaid was key to bringing the Giro to Ireland this year, and is working to revive the pro Tour of Ireland on the back of its success.
Race duration and calendar slot
When it returned to the calendar in 2007, the Tour of Ireland was a five day race. This remained the case in 2008 but a budget shortfall in 2009 saw the event reduced to just three days.
McQuaid said he would like to see a return to the original duration.
He added he had been advised by some recently that a four day race might be preferable. But he said if it was possible, he would like the event to be a day longer than that.
As regards the timing on the calendar, he notes that more and more races are being added to the international schedule while, conversely, the UCI is speaking about reducing the amount of days racing riders can do in one season.
“It is an interesting dynamic going on at the moment, in terms of what the UCI are doing in terms of the racing calendar,” he said.
Still, he was confident the race would both get a calendar slot and also receive strong domestic and international television coverage. These factors are crucial to both getting and keeping sponsors on board.
“The 2007-2009 Tour of Ireland found a fairly good slot in that third week of August,” he said.
“Now since it went off the calendar, the Tour of Colorado has come on at the same time. But we wouldn’t really be chasing the same type of riders as Colorado. That is altitude, lots of climbs; obviously Ireland doesn’t offer that.
“That is something I want to talk to the road commission and Philippe Chevalier in the UCI about. Again, once I know where we have got a green light, that is when I will get into much deeper conversation.
“Depending on which type of sponsor may get involved, the time of year may affect their business and influence the ideal date.
“I do think the previous date was good. Then again, if you remember back in the 80s, early 90s, the late September and early October period for the Nissan Classic used to work, although that was before they changed the world championship date.
“But it could be a good time again – the schools are back, and you get hundreds of kids out when you pass the schools. I am fairly open-minded in terms of the calendar. I think we need to be because there are so many more new races. We’ll see how it works out.”
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