“We’ve got a topography of an escarpment that is very close,so the ocean and the escarpment are much closer than they are in many other parts of the world. With a sport like road cycling,the way it’s broadcast,there’s a lot of imagery coming from the air,so that’s going to be a great opportunity to showcase this part of the world from a global tourism perspective.”

The UCI Road World Championships - part of the ‘Triple Crown’ of road cycling,along with the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France - have only been held in Australia once before,when Geelong and Melbourne played host in 2010.

For Wollongong,which is now the only UCI Bike City in the southern hemisphere,an event of this scale is unprecedented. There will be 11 world championship races held across the eight days of the event,between 18-25 September,and for the first time,the elite men’s and women’s time trials will take place on the same day and across the same distance.

It will finish with the road races,which will unfold over three main components - a remote start in Helensburgh,next to Royal National Park,then a loop through Mount Keira featuring a gruelling 473m climb,before a circuit through the city and its surrounding suburbs.

Organisers are confident of attracting close to 12,000 international visitors among a total of 300,000 spectators,and project the event will create an overall economic impact of $95 million to the region. They are,however,at the mercy of COVID-19,which gives them and all other major event planners little choice but to make contingency plans for the worst,and hope for the best.

“There’s a lot of moving parts when you’re planning an international major event but that’s the challenge that we take on,and all of us in the industry love,” Taggart said.

“This is a real opportunity for the city,the event and for the sport,to have the eyes of the world on Wollongong in that way is a transformational moment for the city. We just want people to experience the sport in their backyard and take that opportunity. It’s not one that comes around too often.”

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Every minute of every racing from the 2022 UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong will be shown ad-free,live and on demand on Stan Sport with select live coverage on the Nine Network