Road World Championships as a catalyst for cycling in Flanders

In 2021, the UCI World Championship Road Cycling will come to Flanders, with Kortrijk, Bruges, Antwerp and Leuven as the host cities. Inspired by this event, Sport Vlaanderen and EventFlanders commissioned IDEA Consult to investigate which innovative policy measures can be used to promote cycling mobility.

To this end, among other things we performed an extensive analysis of national and international sources and conducted a survey of approximately 60 experts at home and abroad.

Based on these findings and a screening and comparison between Belgium and other countries, we are currently formulating recommendations to be incorporated in three so-called “cycling deals” to create a new cycling policy plan, to foster innovation in cycling and to set up campaigns to stimulate people to cycle to work, to school, to shop or just for fun.

Due to the COVID-19 measures (and good weather conditions) we’ve witnessed a rise in cyclists. Some rediscovered their bike, whilst others rediscovered their neighborhood. Supported by a public campaign by Sport Vlaanderen to keep moving, the benefits of cycling has become clear: it’s a convenient and comparably cheap mode of transport, healthy and climate proof. So have the ‘lessons learnt’: we need broader cycle paths, safer crossings, more space for cyclists overall. In order to make this last, cycling can be part of an economic relaunch. Cyclists tend to spend more and are therefore important for the local economy which has been hit hard.

As soon as the report has been validated, we’ll come back with our key insights and recommendations. Triggered by this article? Please let us know, we’ll keep in touch!