Commissioned by British Cycling, the Elite Road Racing Task Force has shared its recommendations for reinvigorating the domestic road racing scene, concluding a four-month process which has engaged more than 250 people across the sport.
In total, the task force has made 16 main recommendations for British Cycling to implement, covering both road and circuit racing, in addition to long-term visions for the National Road Series and National Circuit Series.
The visions set out an ambition for a varied, competitive and sustainable National Road Series, and a National Circuit Series tailored for mass audiences which should generate local economic and societal benefits.
The recommendations follow the publication of extended road and circuit calendars for the 2024 season in December. Work is now underway within British Cycling to develop an action plan to implement the recommendations and set the discipline on a path to sustainable growth in the future.
The Elite Road Racing Task Force was appointed in August to support work to innovate and energise the domestic scene. The group was given a targeted remit to consider the composition of the elite national calendar (including road and circuit), the challenges facing domestic teams, and opportunities to grow the reach and profile of domestic races.
Members of the task force included Ed Clancy (chair), Steve Fry, Monica Greenwood, John Herety, Phil Jones, Chris Lawrence, Jess Morgan and Jo Tindley.
Recommendations
The task force’s full report includes full details of the development process and long-term visions for the road and circuit calendars. In total, the group recommended 40 actions for the organisation to take, which have been summarised into 16 recommendations, detailed in brief below.
- Explore the creation of a centralised procurement function
- Produce a new branding, marketing and communications framework
- Undertake a full review of the digital strategy
- Develop event organiser succession plans for all national series events
- Develop a ‘Winning Pattern’ playbook based on existing successful races
- Consider a targeted sponsorship agreement for the National Series
- Review rider entry processes to stimulate early entries
- Develop best practice guidance for teams
- Undertake a full review of the National Circuit Series
- Prioritise National Circuit Series locations by audience size
- Review the entry criteria for WorldTour riders to enter the National Circuit Series
- Review the national road calendar and ensure more races are outside of the north of England
- Efforts made to ensure delivery of the Tour of Britain and a UCI Women’s World Tour stage race in 2024
- Explore opportunities to increase the number of UCI 1.2 and 2.2 races
- Undertake a full review of race distances and rider qualification criteria
- Consider a new range of jerseys for the National Road Series and a capped maximum entry cost
Reflecting on the group’s work, chair Ed Clancy said “It’s been a real privilege to lead the Elite Road Racing Task Force through this process and I hope that the recommendations published today can help to galvanise the community and help domestic road racing to grow and flourish in the future.
“While the task force members have done a huge amount of work, our recommendations belong to the whole community. We’re hugely thankful to everybody who took time to engage with us through the process, and their experience and insight was vital in enabling us to paint a true picture of the current opportunities and challenges they see.
“Though this now concludes our work, the task force will continue to be a critical and supportive friend as British Cycling moves into its implementation phase, and we look forward to seeing the plans take shape.”
Having received the task force’s recommendations, work is now underway at British Cycling to build a long-term action plan for delivery to build on the positive momentum of the 2024 national calendars. The actions will be prioritised over the coming years in close coordination with the Road Commission, and will sit closely alongside existing work to grow the discipline at all levels.
Cycling CEO Jon Dutton said “I’d like to thank Ed and the task force members for their commitment to the process over the past four months as we collectively look to tackle a matter of real importance for our sport and our membership.
“While it is clear from the report that there are no easy answers, we have taken positive steps with our 2024 elite road calendar, and now have a clear long-term roadmap to propel our national level events towards sustainable growth in the future.
“This has been a new way of working for British Cycling, which demonstrates our commitment to openness and collaboration with our communities, and to finding solutions to our most pressing challenges. We look forward to sharing our progress over the months and years ahead.”
