Pune became the first Indian city to host the Pune Grand Tour (PGT), a UCI 2.2 race, in Jan
When asked about the infrastructural preparedness, Dudi said, “Every year, we will make new roads in and around the city. Dudi said the UCI has approved a route of 270km for the World meet. “Almost 70% of the route falls in Pune city limits, so it is natural that the city should have roads that would not only be spotless, but also of international standards,” he said. When asked about the budget, Dudi said, “Like PGT, we will not allocate any special budget for infrastructural developments like roads and beautification of the city. Instead, we will use the funds that are allocated to various departments like municipal corporations, the Public Works Department and the road development authority,” he said.
The World meets need roads of a certain standard. We will aspire to make our roads as per European standards.
The collector added that clinching this bid would strengthen India’s chances to win the bid for the 2036 Olympics. UCI president David Lappartient said in a statement: “We received two wonderful bids for the Road World Championships and the UCI management committee decided to reward the first one to Pune (2032) and the next (2033) jointly to Groningen and Drenthe in The Netherlands. Over the next few years, we will start hosting PGT on Sundays so that we can manage traffic while also giving citizens a chance to witness the races.
Dudi said traffic management and riders’ safety are paramount. Winning a bid like this would give similar confidence to members of the International Olympic Committee,” he said. Maninder Pal Singh, secretary general of Cycling Federation of India, said, “I thank UCI for giving us this honour and would like to declare that the 2032 championships will be the biggest and the grandest World Championships ever.”
“We hosted the first edition of PGT on weekdays and were able to manage traffic and diversions. “Stakeholders in UCI now trust India’s capability of hosting big events.