Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) invites Fyn to join the prestigious UCI-label family with Bike Region Award
On Tuesday, Fyn was rewarded with the prestigious award as UCI Bike Region during the UCI Road World Championships in Bergen, Norway. The award honors cities and regions that initiate great strategies in developing bicycle-culture in their area and also have the ability to attract and host significant UCI-events. This award is a result of a unique collaboration between Destination Fyn Network and Sport Event Fyn.
The President of UCI, Brian Cookson, says:
– I would like to congratulate the island of Fyn for the excellent work they carry out in Denmark to develop cycling in all its forms. The Bike Island 2020 cycling tourism strategy, launched by the region of Fyn, Langeland and Ærø, demonstrates their ambition to use the power of cycling to promote tourism and economic development. We look forward to joining our new UCI Bike Region partner during the 2017 Telenet UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup and the 2019 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships which will be held in Bogense.“
In exactly two months from today, one of the largest events on Fyn will take off, when Bogense hosts Telenet World Cup Cyclo-Cross. This becomes even bigger and more action-packed about a year from now, when the 2019 World Championship in Cyclo-Cross is held in Bogense as well. President of the Danish Cycling Federation, DCU, Henrik Jess Jensen, says:
– It is very impressive that Fyn is rewarded with the honorable status as Bike Region by UCI. This emphasizes the status of Denmark as a powerful country of cycling, just as it gives us great opportunities to attract even greater international events in the future. Copenhagen became the first UCI Bike City after being awarded the 2011 UCI Road World Championships and with a solid and ambitious bicycle-strategy Fyn is now able to follow up on the success.
It is factors such as the 1.200 km of bicycle path and specially engineered services for bike-tourists on South Funen as well as the great bicycle infrastructure in Odense which have convinced UCI that Fyn should be part of the prestigious UCI label-family. Mayor of Culture, Sport and Urban Development and vice president of Sport Event Fyn Jane Jegind says:
– We are very proud that UCI have noticed the great work of Sport Event Fyn in collaboration with Sport Event Denmark on attracting and hosting big international cycling events on Fyn, as well as the value of merging our event-attraction strategy with our tourism strategy and the everyday cycling on our island into one joint strategy. A strategy we have unfolded through the Bike Island ambition of becoming the most attractive cycling holiday destination in Northern Europe by 2020, as well as through several initiatives aiming at making the city of Odense a great place to be for cyclists of all kinds. We are looking forward to sharing our experiences in the inspiring network of the UCI label-family over the years to come.
Also the national sport event organisation, Sport Event Denmark, welcomes the new UCI label:
– UCI awarding Fyn the UCI Bike Region label is once more a great recognition of the efforts Fyn and Denmark put in major, international cycling events. In 2007 Copenhagen was the first city awarded the UCI Bike City label. The UCI Bike City and Bike Region concept is designed for internationally renowned cities and regions wanting to get involved in cycling (from competition to sport for all), as an environmentally-friendly leisure sport and a gentle means of transport, says Lars Lundov, CEO, Sport Event Denmark.
The sports and cycling-events continue in the years to come with the ITU Multisport Festival in 2018 and the prestigious World Championship in cyclo-cross in 2019 which is both hosted on Fyn.