2023 world titles to be contested in Glasgow

Callum Skinner has set his sights on golden glory in Glasgow after his home city was announced as the host of the inaugural combined World Championships in 2023.

The event will bring together 13 existing championships for the first time, including road, track, BMX and mountain biking, turning the host city “into a true world cycling capital” according to David Lappartient, the president of cycling’s world governing body, UCI.

“It’s really special and for Glasgow to be hosting the inaugural event is amazing,” said Olympic gold medallist Skinner.

“It brings together some massparticipation events, it brings together 13 world titles and it’s incredibly exciting. It spans out of the city of Glasgow as well so we’ve really got an amazing platform to showcase the best of Scotland.

“As an athlete we enjoy the multisport events the most, whether that’s an Olympic Games or Commonwealth Games, so this is going to be really wonderful to be in the hotel and bump into athletes from all sorts of other disciplines who are all united by being on two wheels.

“If I’m still competing in 2023 I’ll be giving it everything I’ve got to win gold.

“A home world championships is something really special. The last time I experienced that was down in London in the championships before the Olympic Games.

“As tough as that was (to finish eighth in the individual sprint), it was also really special and gave me a big dollop of motivation on the way to the Olympics.”

The idea for a combined championship was part of the manifesto of Lappartient when the Frenchman was elected president of the UCI ahead of Britain’s Brian Cookson in 2017.

The decision to host the inaugural event in Glasgow is a major boost to Scotland after they missed out on the Grand Depart of the 2014 Tour de France, which went to Yorkshire instead.