India and Bahrain to co-host 2017 Asian Cycling Championships

The capital cities of New Delhi and Manama will jointly host next year s Asian Cycling Championships, following an earlier decision by the Asian Cycling Confederation to allow track and road cycling disciplines to be held separately.

Feature image: Sonoko Tanaka

The decision to allow separate host cities for each discipline was made at January s Asian Cycling Confederation Congress in Tokyo, following the 2016 Championships in Japan.

Central to this ratification by ACC committee members was the objective to allow smaller Asian nations that may lack suitable velodrome facilities the opportunity to still bid for the rights to host road cycling events.

Since beginning in 1963 as a biannual event, the Asian Cycling Championships became an annual occurrence in 1999 and have successfully taken place on 35 occasions (the 1975 Championships scheduled to be held in Jakarta were ultimately cancelled).

Though 41 member states make up the Asian Cycling Confederation, to date only 12 countries have hosted the Championships primarily due to the disparate emphasis on cycling infrastructure development across the continent. Between them, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and Korea have so far hosted more than half of all Championship events ever held.

It is hoped the change in rules will permit Asian countries without velodromes to now consider putting their hands up to host road events in future. Bahrain is the first such country to avail itself of the new policy.

Bahrain s Cycling Association has already outlined its schedule for the 2017 Championships, but the Cycling Federation of India is yet to make a similar announcement. All ITT and road races will take place at the Bahrain International Circuit.

2017 Asian Cycling Championships road events program

Sunday, 26 February
Individual Time Trial (Junior Women, U23 Men, Elite Men)

Monday, 27 February
Individual Time Trial (Junior Men, Elite Women)

Tuesday, 28 February
Road Race (Elite Men)

Wednesday, 01 March
Road Race (U23 Men, Junior Women)

Thursday, 02 March
Road Race (Junior Men, Elite Women)