A preliminary estimate of attendance at the 2015 UCI Road World Championships has shown that the numbers attending far exceeded crowd predictions. it has been estimated that about 645,000 spectators visited the championships during its 10 days.
This figure is nearly 200,000 higher than what organisers had been predicting. The official attendance will be released as part of an economic impact study in several months.
The number is based on the overall attendance over the duration of the championships, rather than the number of individuals attending.
In arriving at the figure, the organisers used both quantitative and qualitative data, including analysing numbers of spectators at certain parts of the course and using estimates from cycling and other events previously held in Richmond. For the economic study, other information such as airport traffic and hotel bookings will also be reviewed.
Over the past number of years, the organisers had expected approximately 450,000 spectators to attend and this figure had been criticised by some as being very ambitious. This estimate had been based on the number of spectators who had attended the Worlds in Hamilton in 2003, which had been put at 230,000.
