The new organization of the Mont-Sainte-Anne Mountain Bike World Cup believes that the interim edition of the event was crowned with success.
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As the successor to Gestev, who masterfully organized the World Championship during the first 27 editions, Ian Beaulieu of Mouvement Production was thrilled with this first experience.
“The results are extremely positive,” Beaulieu said. The traffic was really, really heavy. We reached the highlight during the descent on Saturday, when around 30,000 spectators streamed into the hall. Patrice Drouin (the former big boss of Gestev) told me that there were more people than during the 2019 World Cup, which attracted the best crowd in history.
The organizers estimate the number of visitors to be almost 45,000 people for all five days.
With the appearance of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), which has been commissioned by the International Cycling Union (UCI) to transform mountain biking into a spectacle sport and improve the visual quality of the event, Beaulieu mentions that the commission was big for him Company.
“It was a big challenge,” he said. The management team was renewed and all standards were raised. We had to work with the subcontractors hired by WBD and it was almost more work to provide the service than to do everything like in the past.”
Beaulieu assures that the comments were polite. “We had a meeting to review the weekend and the WBD subcontractors couldn’t believe it,” he said. They told us that we were clearly the most organized group on the entire tour. We will know the problems better in the second year.”
Next year it will be autumn again
For the first time, Mont-Sainte-Anne hosted the Mountain Bike World Cup in the fall instead of June or August. “We want to commit for a few years and that looks really good,” Beaulieu said. Negotiations are ongoing, but we believe an agreement could be reached quickly. The UCI wants to present its calendar for next season in a few weeks.”
“Both parties want to finalize the calendar in North America,” Beaulieu continued. If possible, we would like to hold the event a week earlier. We’ve been lucky this year, but it’s not going to be 17 days without rain all the time like we experienced in September. There is a possibility that our event will take place outside of Snowshoe, Virginia.”
This year, the international circuit stopped in Snowshoe before traveling to Quebec.
Collapsed pedestrian bridge in the Convention Center
The collapse of a pedestrian bridge at the convention center on Saturday evening during the post-descent party did not result in a drop in Mouvement Production’s rating. A dozen people were transported to two area hospitals, but all were released Sunday.
“Like us, WBD was saddened by the turn of events, but there was no negative reaction,” he assured. You know it wasn’t our responsibility. Every year there are incidents on Saturday evening, although on a smaller scale. After the descent, Mont-Sainte-Anne is a bit crazy.”
“Our audience is very engaged, as is the case in Les Gets in France,” Beaulieu added. These are the two places on the circuit where the audience is most active. The fans are super fanatical.”
Beaulieu and his group have no intention of banning parties. “Fans want to celebrate, but we have to find a formula that protects people,” he explained. There will be great thoughts.”
The Quebec Summer Events Corporation wants to keep the world championship. “It’s like a little factory for the region,” Beaulieu said. The World Cup is a great driver for the development of our sport and economy! Within a month and a half, a company will publish the results of the consequences.”