Following George Osborne’s confirmation in his autumn statement that the Government will give financial backing to a British bid to host the world road race championships for the first time since 1982, British Cycling has confirmed that it is in active negotiation with the Treasury over funding for the event.

British Cycling’s chief executive, Ian Drake, has told the Guardian the governing body is determined to link such support to the provision of new facilities across the entire country. A British Cycling source said that while Yorkshire was the government’s preferred venue, their current priority was to gain the funding to enable the sport to grow nationwide.

“What we have said to the government is that this is fantastic, we would love to do it, but we need a substantial legacy to put in a bid to the Union Cycliste Internationale,” Drake said. British Cycling, he said, will be asking, for an input of between £25m and £50m – cited as “an aspirational figure” - that would cover the cost of running the championships and the provision of up to 100 new off-road facilities nationwide.

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BBC Online claimed that the Treasury is currently offering £10m although there is apparently a chance that more funding could be available spread across two parliaments.

Such an investment is “not unprecedented,” Drake says, citing the model of the £100m scheme jointly funded by the FA and the government to provide 4G pitches in 30 cities across the country, announced in March 2015. “We don’t want an event that just comes and goes. We want to make sure that every kid that sees it has somewhere to go and ride their bike.”

Drake explained that what British Cycling will ask for is a wealth of road racing circuits attached to existing multi-sport venues. “Cycling could potentially be the most popular sport in the country if kids had places to go and ride their bikes. The return on investment would be fantastic and a legacy like this would strengthen our position with the UCI in terms of getting [the world’s]. Let’s leave a permanent legacy in every town and city with traffic free facilities”.

However, the Chancellor made what appears to have been an early bid to put the government’s cards on the table by publicly stating in February that he would back a Yorkshire bid, in the wake of the region’s successful hosting of the Tour de France Grand Depart in 2014. The event ties in with his “Northern Powerhouse” policy, and there are other political undercurrents, such as an eventual transfer of powers to parts of the region under an elected ‘metro mayor’.

However, unlike the Tour de France, where potential hosts approach the organisers directly, bids to host the world championships have to be made to the UCI through the governing body, which examines tenders from potential host regions before choosing a preferred bidder. Gary Verity, head of Welcome to Yorkshire, the man behind the Grand Départ and its legacy Tour, issued a statement in December re-affirming the region’s desire to host the World’s – “The past two years have reminded the world how Yorkshire has cycling at its heart. The phenomenal and widely documented success of the Tour de France Grand Départ and the new Tour de Yorkshire have demonstrated an appetite for cycling not only from our local authorities, but residents, media, schools, visitors and of course from the riders.”

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Drake was insistent, however, that the world championships is not a done deal for Yorkshire, although BBC Online reported that any funding would depend on Yorkshire hosting the eight-day event, most probably in Leeds. Scotland, Wales and the Northwest of England were known to be interested.

“The government may have a preferred region but for us the benefits are not just about an event, we want to see a legacy,” said Drake. “We have to get it right and we will do it in a transparent way. Yorkshire is potentially in a strong position but so are other regions and home countries.” To muddy the waters further, British Cycling and Welcome to Yorkshire had a recent difference of opinion over whether the Tour de Yorkshire should have a fourth day’s racing, with their application refused by the governing body.

Under the usual time frame, bids have to be sent to the UCI three years in advance. To host the World’s in 2019, tenders would have to be in by June, which Drake considered to be too tight a time frame, although it appears that is the government’s preferred year, probably due to its proximity to the next General Election. That is almost 30 years since the event last visited the UK, when the road events were held at Goodwood in Sussex.

The road world championships is more complex and costly to organise than the Tour de France, requiring eight days’ worth of road closures due to the extended racing schedule, which starts on one Sunday with the team time trial title for trade squads before switching to a national team format for road races and time trials for categories from junior upwards, closing with the men’s elite event on the final Sunday.