Two weeks after revealing the revised 2020 calendars for the UCI WorldTour and UCI Women’s WorldTour with a view to the resumption of the cycling season in the context of the coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19), the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announces – as it had committed to doing – the 2020 UCI International Road Calendar for the other classes of events.
Established in consultation with the concerned National Federations, the revised 2020 UCI International Road Calendar now includes men’s and women’s races for the following classes: UCI ProSeries, Class 1, Class 2, UCI Nations’ Cup, Under-23 and Junior categories, and criteriums.
This procedure gave organisers the opportunity to reschedule their events. In total, new dates were found for 91 events (61 for Men Elite, 19 for Women Elite, 6 for Men Under-23, 4 for Men Junior, and 1 for Women Junior), giving teams and riders the chance to benefit from an attractive calendar that will enable them to rise to the challenge of an unprecedented season.
Of some 1000 events postponed or cancelled since March – the equivalent of 45% of the UCI International Calendar -, road cycling is the discipline hardest hit by the health crisis (40% of all the requests for postponement or cancellation).
More generally, the UCI applauds the commitment of organisers in joining the UCI in the reconstruction of the entire calendar, despite the extremely difficult context.
As the security of the athletes and all parties involved remains the priority of the UCI and its partners, the men’s and women’s professional road calendar is under constant evaluation to keep abreast of the evolution of the world health situation.
Depending on this evolution, if need be, the UCI will make any necessary adjustments to the 2020 calendars for the UCI WorldTour and UCI Women’s WorldTour at the next meetings of the Professional Cycling Council and UCI Management Committee, to be held respectively on 9 and 10 June.
The UCI President David Lappartient declared: “We have just taken a new and important step towards a return to cycling competitions. After the calendars for the UCI WorldTour and UCI Women’s WorldTour, and that for mountain bike, the athletes, teams and all stakeholders now have the entire 2020 UCI International Road Calendar.
“I thank our partners and in particular our National Federations, for enabling us to establish these new dates as quickly as possible. However, we know that these dates, as important as they are, remain subject to modification depending on the development of the pandemic in the coming weeks and months.
“We will adapt to any context if necessary but can be pleased that our sport is progressively defining an overall framework enabling us to anticipate a return to normal.” UCI
