MONTREAL, Sept 24 — Cycling’s Road World Championships will head to India for the first time as the 2032 edition was awarded to the world’s most populous nation yesterday.

Pune — a city of around seven million people, some 100 miles (160 kilometres) from Mumbai — beat competition from the Dutch city of Groningen in a vote at the International Cycling Union (UCI) congress in Montreal.

Groningen will receive the 2034 edition, said organisers, following the vote held during this year’s ongoing championships.

“There were two very good, solid bids and I think we have found a good solution for both organisers,” said UCI president David Lappartient.

India is already preparing to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, in Ahmedabad, and has ambitions to host the 2036 Olympics.

After decades exclusively in Europe, the first Cycling World Championships in North America took place in Montreal in 1974.

Japan was the first Asian country to host the event, in 1990, followed by Doha in 2016 and Abu Dhabi, which will host the 2028 edition.

Last year, Rwanda became the first African country to host the event. — AFP