Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has promised the world’s top cyclists a “palace” of a velodrome for the 2013 World Track Cycling Championships in Minsk.
Cycling’s international governing body, the UCI, awarded Belarus the right to host the championships for the first time in January.
The event will be a key showcase for Belarus, which is currently hosting the 2012 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, and will stage the 2014 World Ice Hockey Championships.
“We will do everything to improve the velodrome even more, to make its appearance ideal, make it a real palace, where the athletes and coaches will feel at home as they enter it,” Lukashenko said at a meeting with UCI president Pat McQuaid on Friday. “With all this, we will create a good state of mind in the athletes.”
Staging the event would not be a problem for Belarus, he added.
“All the facilities for living will be created here, all the infrastructure will be prepared, and that all shows that we will host the world cycling championships without any problems and carry it out at the highest level.”
The event may yet run into problems because of Belarus’ human rights record.
United States senator Dick Durbin has called for national teams to boycott the 2014 ice hockey championships. The Illinois Democrat said that it would send a message to Lukashenko that human rights abuses would not be tolerated.
No calls to boycott the cycling championships have been made.
