How did you cope with the past period caused by the coronavirus? How could you face the fact that you might have to organise the races at a later time?

When it became clear that Europe can’t escape the spread of the epidemic, we did everything to finish all those tasks – driving along the race routes, on-site negotiations – that couldn’t have been possible after the introduction of the restrictions in Hungary. As an organiser, it was not too easy to experience the period of the lockdown, but I think everybody else felt the same way. At the same time, all the basic tasks of the organisation could go on smoothly even if they became more time-consuming as, of course, it was not always simple to arrange everything via telephone and internet from home office. The biggest issue was the compilation of the race calendar since it often happened that we had to wait for weeks for the answers of the International Cycling Federation which, understandably, was not always able to give up up-to-date information.

Zsolt Törzsök
(Photo: Zoltán Vanik)

Besides the Visegrad 4 Juniors race, you will also organise several other cycling races. How hard was it to find a place on the calendar?

Our race schedule will be finished with the Visegrad 4 Juniors Cycling World Cup between 26-28 August. This made us alter our race calendar for the third time. This was not easy as the originally planned and already re-designed order of the races had to be re-scheduled again. In the meantime, the government of Hungary passed an order about the conditions of organising sports events according to which it is practically not allowed to have a road cycling race until 15 August in Hungary. So, to answer your question, knowing all these facts, we were basically forced to squeeze all our races into a 2-week period starting on 16 August. It a quite challenging task, but, with the help of all our co-organisers, it will not be impossible.

Visegrad 4 Special Series 2019 – Vásárosnamény-Nyíregyháza
(Photo: Zoltán Vanik)

Do you think the Visegrad 4 Juniors Cycling World Cup can be a new milestone in the life of Hungarian cycling sport?

After the epidemic, only two juniors World Cup race venues survived: in Europe, Hungary alone, and the other is an organiser in the Far East, South Korea. Unfortunately, this causes the most serious problem as the two competitions will be run simultaneously, and what is more, a bit later the European Championships has also been scheduled for this same period, which can do nothing about. The race calendar of the UCI came out on 19 May, and rumour has it that the decision about the date of the European Championships was made on 18 May. According to the latest news, it will be held in France, but the venue is still not published in the calendar of the UCI. On the basis of all these, definitely the organisation of the World Cup will be the most difficult for us mainly because the participants will be junior riders, and international sports federations are still quite tentative about the travels of junior athletes. At the same time, it is our clear aim to break the ground the for the success of the following years from which Hungarian cycling sport can profit a lot.

Gilberto Simoni and Zsolt Törzsök
(Photo: Zoltán Vanik)

What kind of health precautions will be introduced at the races?

The health guidelines are still being developed. On the one hand they have to meet the requirements of the measures introduced in Hungary, on the other hand the International Cycling Federation has also issued a recommendation. We would like to create a package of measures which will be able minimize health risks. This work has just been started, more precisely after the international registration of the races has been finalised. I hope it will be completed in 2-3 weeks. We strive to respect all the expectations to the fullest. We follow the work of organisers abroad who arrange race at the start of the season if they have ideas that we can follow.

Are teams very much interested in your race? What results would make you content?

As for the World Cup, the international federations still wait, but there are already enrolments for that as well, so the formation of the peloton is in progress. It is important to know that we must accept the enrolment of the first 25 countries in last year’s nations ranking, so we have been aware of the fact from the beginning that the start list will be completed later than in the case of the other international races we organise.

As for the World Cup, we also hope for the successful participation of the Hungarian riders since this race offers a great opportunity for our junior riders. I believe that our event also contribute to the advance of the Hungarian cycling sport.