"For an Italian club to run out of Peroni is ridiculous," marketing manager Kane Baker said.

Read more: Terrifying birds, traffic and a girl in pink: how we'll remember our week in the spotlight

For months prior to the arrival of the UCI Road World Championships, The Fraternity Club has been preparing an 'Italian Corner' to give spectators a place to watch the race and cheer on the Azzurri.

On Sunday, the men's road race exceeded all expectations with 100,000 visiting the Illawarra.

Mr Baker, whose business Cubik Marketing consults for the Club, said staff had to scramble to ensure the taps kept flowing.

"There were about five laps to go of the inner city circuit, we were looking around at the stock levels of what we had and just trying to last the rest of the afternoon, which are very good problems to have," he said.

"It was a fantastic day."

Overall, initial reactions on the nine day cycling event is that Wollongong pulled off a major, complex event and looked great on the world stage.

Official organisers estimate that 200,000 people attended across the nine days, short of the 300,000 predicted prior to the event.

Wollongong 2022 CEO Stu Taggart said with the peak of the event on Sunday attracting 100,000 spectators from Helensburgh to Wollongong, the city came alive in front of the globe.

"It was so exciting to see the city come to life yesterday with spectators stretched right along the course, businesses bustling and proud smiles on the faces of local residents who have never seen their hometown showcased in such a way," he said.

Luke Symons, co-owner of hospitality group Good Times Only said expectations did not match reality.

"We were told 300,000 people were coming through so that's what we prepared for," the operator of CBD venues including Dagwood, The Prince and Howlin' Wolf said.

"The problem we had was our expectations were set so high. The event was awesome, but we were gearing up extra staff, adding extra trading hours."

Mr Symons said across his venues, the peak race days of last Saturday and Sunday were roughly equivalent to a normal weekend, but the first weekend, business was down by 40 per cent.

The gap between an estimated 300,000 spectators and the reality of 200,000 could be explained by the large barrier COVID has left for overseas travel, Wollongong Councillor and Destination Wollongong Chair Tania Brown said.

"I think it impacted the international travellers, I don't think as many came as the UCI would normally see," she said.

Belgian star Wout Van Aert summed up what many international spectators were experiencing in a Tweet, noting plane tickets were much higher than initially expected.

"8000 euros ($A11,880) for a business class upgrade (one-way!) instead of promised 3500 euros for a [return] ticket," he wrote.

Back on the ground, His Boy Elroy owner Lachlan Stevens, who operated his Keira Street venue and a food truck in the Lang Park fan zone said it was "a tale of two cities".

"In the centre of CBD, it was a little bit disappointing from a foot traffic perspective and that's certainly reflected in the numbers," he said.

"Down at the food truck, obviously, it went gangbusters and we were very happy with that."

Overall, Mr Stevens said the event was a "massive" net positive for the business, with 800 burgers sold in a four window on Sunday, for example.

With the event expected to highlight Wollongong's ability to stage large, complex events of an international scale, Business Illawarra executive director Adam Zarth said that now planning can begin on how to make the most of the centre of the action during Wollongong 2022.

"The way that the UCI Road World Championship utilised the entertainment precinct and Lang Park demonstrates that the opportunity is there," he said.

In June, the NSW government allocated $3.5 million for the masterplan for a revitalised Illawarra Sports and Entertainment Precinct, including WIN Entertainment Centre, WIN Stadium and the adjacent training field.

"That master planning for the precinct should be kicking off imminently," Mr Zarth said. "We have the opportunity to say to the NSW government, we've had this terrific event and now we can take this precinct forward."

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