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How does a World Cup end in a country, and more specifically a region of that country, where there isn’t a lot of cycling? Fayetteville is located in the southern state of Arkansas (in the Ozarks, which you might know from the Netflix series), one of the most conservative states in the country (more on that later).
In America, unlike the Netherlands and Europe, cycling has the status of being an elite sport. A left-wing liberal happen, for hipsters in cities, so to speak – a bit cartoonish of course, but there’s some truth to that.
The fact that the World Cup is now in Fayetteville is about three men. First there are the Walton brothers (Steuart (40) and Tom (37)), the grandchildren of Sam Walton. This Walton bought his first store in Arkansas in 1945 and slowly expanded his empire to what is now the Walmart chain.
Walmart is the largest supermarket chain in the United States, and as a result, Tom and Steuart are swimming in cash (billions!), but they don’t. Instead of swimming in money, they ride bicycles. Their investment company is a major shareholder in cycling apparel company Rapha and they have invested millions in Arkansas cycling infrastructure in recent years. There is, for example, the Oz Trails, a great mountain biking route through the Ozarks.
But the brothers wanted more. A cyclo-cross world championship. This is where man number 3 comes into the story. Brook Watts. 65, from Colorado, and a household name in the cross world for years. He received a call if he wanted to inquire in Fayetteville about a possible World Cup.
He thought it was a crazy story that they wanted to do something with bikes there, but went to have a look anyway, leave it on flash bike to know, to know. He was excited about the surroundings, but even more excited when he learned that the Walton brothers were behind the call: an almost inexhaustible source of money. And you really need money if you want to organize such an event and convince the UCI.
Watts caught on and it happened. The World Cup is almost here. But the last twist of the story is that it’s without Watts. He stepped down as head of the organization last spring due to political issues.
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Lead organizer Brook Watts draws his conclusions. Below you can read what exactly is going on.
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U.S. Cyclocross World Cup organizers quit over political issues
The Republican majority in the state Senate has become the first state in the United States to ban hormone treatment for transgender youth. A stir in the liberal cycling community (she also made the Dutch news by the way) and Watts asked the organization (read: the Waltons) to publicly distance themselves from the passed law. They refused, and Watts drew his conclusions.
Later, Tom Walton publicly supported the veto the (Republican) Governor of Arkansas held over the law, but by then the damage had already been done for Watts. He is – ironically – watching TV in Europe. Friday evening already, in the mixed relay, because this discipline is Watts’ idea.
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