The Giro d’Italia—one of the three grand tours of professional cycling—kicked off over the weekend in Denmark. As it has for years, the race started outside of Italy for its first three stages.

In late 2009, race organizers and city officials floated what seemed like a crazy idea—bring the 2012 installment of the race stateside, with D.C. hosting its first two or three stages. Mayor Adrian Fenty—himself an avid cyclist—became a quick booster for the idea, joining race organizers and the Italian ambassador the U.S. at a reception at the Italian Embassy to stoke excitement for the idea.

Last April, the idea was pulled off the table altogether as race organizers announced that Denmark, which had requested the 2013 start, would get first stages of the race in 2012. It was a sudden disappointment for local cycling fans, and today CyclingNews reports that it was in part spurred by Fenty’s loss in the 2010 Democratic primary:

Robin Morton of g4 Productions, who was on the 2012 Giro d’Italia Working Group, said there were two main reasons that Washington was not chosen. The first one had been that city mayor Adrian Fenty was defeated in the fall of 2010. “He was the cycling advocate within the DC government. The new administration had many other issues to deal with; this was not a priority,” Morton told Cyclingnews.

Nor was it the only important personnel change. Former race director Angelo Zomegnan was removed from his job, as well. “Zomegnan was the cornerstone of the project. Without him to lead the charge from the RCS side it was a difficult sell,” Morton added.

Not all hope is lost, though—current race director Michele Acquarone said he would still like to see a U.S. start, though it might not come to pass until after 2015.