Tour de France delayed by coronavirus and already has new dates

For the first time since the Second World War, the Tour de France will not take place in July and will be held in 2020 between 29 August and 20 September. The cause of this is the coronavirus pandemic, which has already disrupted plans for major sporting competitions such as the Tokyo Olympics and the European Football Championship, which have been moved to 2021, or the NBA and the European Football Champions League.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) confirmed that the Tour, which was initially scheduled to run from 27 June to 19 July, will be postponed and is scheduled to end this year on 20 September, if the COVID-19 disease allows it. 

"The Tour de France will take place on the planned route, unchanged, from Nice to Paris, from Saturday 29 August to Sunday 20 September," posted the Tour de France on its Twitter social network account. Sources from the organisation said that this new calendar "was part of the working hypotheses" that were being developed.
 

The change of plans for the most important cycling tour by stages in the world has shifted the calendar of other important events, such as the Tour of Spain, which was due to start on August 14 in Utrecht (Holland). "It will be the latest Tour in history", said Christian Prudhomme, general manager of the Tour de France.

The French round will take place in September, while October is for the Giro d'Italia and November for the Vuelta a España. Meanwhile, the Swiss Road Cycling World Cup will take place on September 27. 

The main objective was to delay the Tour as much as possible in order to give time for political and health authorities to reduce the effects of the COVID-19 to a minimum. "We had to go as far as possible," Prudhomme officially acknowledged to the media, with the aim of trying to ensure that cyclists, if the end of the confinement ordered by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, is decreed on May 11, can have a month of training before and an additional month with a test ride. That is, if the sport returns to normal by that date. 

"It has been a decision reached with the UCI, the representatives of the teams and the riders. Everyone is aware that the Tour is the biggest cycling race in the world. And the Tour is indispensable," added Prudhomme.
 

On the other hand, the National Championships, organised by different countries' Federations, will take place on the weekend of 22nd and 23rd August. Finally, the most prestigious one-day road races, namely the Milan-San Remo (Italy), the Tour des Flanders (Belgium), the Paris-Roubaix (France), the Liège-Bastoña-Liège (Belgium) and the Giro di Lombardia (Italy) will be held this season, on dates yet to be determined.

The entire calendar has been determined in a videoconference meeting organized by the UCI, in the context of the current coronavirus pandemic, which was attended by all the main representatives of the professional road cycling families: organizers (AIOCC and leaders of ASO, RCS, Unipublic and Flanders Classics), teams (AIGCP) and riders (CPA). 

It was also decided that the period of suspension of competitions on the UCI international racing calendar would be extended by one month, until July 1, and until August 1 for UCI WorldTour events.