UCI Reveals New Calendar for 2020

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) today announced the revised 2020 calendars for the UCI WorldTour and UCI Women’s WorldTour

UCI Reveals New Calendar for 2020

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) today announces the revised 2020 calendars for the UCI WorldTour and UCI Women’s WorldTour, with a view to the resumption of the cycling season, halted due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic which has struck most of the world.

Given the evolution of the world health situation, on 15 April the UCI decided to extend the suspension period of competitions on the UCI International Road Calendar until 1st July (until 1st August for races on the UCI WorldTour and UCI Women’s WorldTour calendars).

MENS

The 2020 UCI WorldTour which will start with the Strade Bianche on 1st August and finish with the Vuelta Ciclista a España on 8 November.

The series will include 25 events, after the five events held at the beginning of the season – Santos Tour Down Under (Australia), Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race (Australia), UAE Tour (United Arab Emirates), Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Elite (Belgium) and Paris-Nice (France) and the cancellation of six events at the request of their organisers due to the effects of the pandemic – E3 BinckBank Classic (Belgium), Tour de Romandie (Switzerland), Tour de Suisse (Switzerland), Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (Spain), Itzulia Basque Country (Spain) and Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa (Spain).

Featuring among the 25 events are 17 one-day races, including the five Monuments (Milano-Sanremo, Tour des Flandres, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège et Il Lombardia) and eight stage races, including the three Grands Tours.

The new dates of events on the 2020 UCI WorldTour Men’s calendar are as follows:

-1st August: Strade Bianche (Italy)
-5-9 August: Tour de Pologne (Poland)
-8 August: Milano-Sanremo (Italy)
-12-16 August: Critérium du Dauphiné (France)
-16 August: Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic (Great Britain)
-25 August: Bretagne Classic – Ouest-France (France)
-29 August -20 September : Tour de France (France)
-7-14 September: Tirreno-Adriatico (Italy)
-11 September: Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec (Canada)
-13 September: Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal (Canada)
-29 September -3 October: BinckBank Tour
-30 September: La Flèche Wallonne (Belgium)
-3-25 October: Giro d’Italia (Italy)
-4 October: Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Belgium)
-10 October: Amstel Gold Race (the Netherlands)
-11 October: Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields (Belgium)
-14 October: A Travers la Flandre (Belgium)
-15-20 October: Gree – Tour of Guangxi (China)
-18 October: Tour des Flandres (Belgium)
-20 October – 8 November: Vuelta Ciclista a España (Spain)
-21 October: Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne (Belgium)
-25 October: Paris-Roubaix (France)
-31 October: Il Lombardia (Italy)

Dates to be confirmed: EuroEyes Cyclassics Hamburg (Germany) and Eschborn-Frankfurt (Germany). The National Championships should take place from 20 to 23 August. However, their dates will be subject to the possibility of National Federations to organise their event in August.

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WOMEN’S
The Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race – Elite Women’s Race (Australia) is the only event of the 2020 UCI Women’s WorldTour that was able to take place before the coronavirus spread worldwide and brought the cycling season to a stop. The health crisis has taken a heavy toll on this major series for women’s professional road cycling with three events cancelled – Women’s WorldTour Ronde van Drenthe (the Netherlands), Trofeo Alfredo Binda – Comune di Cittiglio (Italy) and Women’s Tour (Great Britain).

The revised UCI Women’s WorldTour calendar will start on 1st August with the Strade Bianche and finish on 8 November with the Ceratizit Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta (Spain). The 2020 series will include 18 events: 13 one-day races and five stage races. The new dates of events on the 2020 UCI Women’s WorldTour calendar are as follows:

-1st August: Strade Bianche (Italy)
-8 August: Postnord UCI WWT Vårgårda West Sweden TTT (Sweden)
-9 August: Postnord UCI WWT Vårgårda West Sweden RR (Sweden)
-13-16 August: Ladies Tour of Norway (Norway)
-26 August: GP de Plouay – Lorient Agglomération Trophée WNT (France)
-29 August: La Course by Le Tour de France (France)
-1-6 September: Boels Ladies Tour (the Netherlands)
-11-19 September: Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile (Italy)
-30 September: La Flèche Wallonne Féminine (Belgium)
-4 October: Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes (Belgium)
-10 October: Amstel Gold Race Ladies (the Netherlands)
-11 October: Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields (Belgium)
-18 October : Ronde van Vlaanderen (Belgium)
-20 October: Tour of Guangxi Women’s WorldTour (China)
-20 October: Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne (Belgium)
-23-25 October: Tour of Chongming Island (China)
-25 October: Paris-Roubaix (France)
-6-8 November: Ceratizit Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta (Spain)

It is worthy of note that following a discussion initiated by the UCI, a new event organised by ASO will make its appearance in the 2020 UCI Women’s WorldTour: the women’s version of Paris-Roubaix. The integration of this new Monument into the leading circuit for women’s cycling is excellent news: women now also have the possibility to tackle the “Hell of the North”, which will expand the calendar and make it even more appealing to the public.

Moreover, several measures to accompany road cycling’s players towards the resumption of the season have been confirmed or decided, including:

– The framework agreement reached between the UCI and the representatives of riders and teams applies to UCI professional road teams (UCI Women’s WorldTeams, UCI WorldTeams and UCI ProTeams). This agreement obtained for the men’s and women’s circuits enables teams in serious financial difficulties due to the pandemic, to take necessary measures for their survival, while maintaining the rights of their riders and staff. This agreement has also been passed onto National Federations in charge of registering UCI Women’s Continental Teams so they can draw on it with a view to application for this category of team.

The regulations establishing the number of riders per team at the start of races in the UCI WorldTour and UCI Women’s WorldTour have been relaxed this year:

– for UCI WorldTour stage races, the number of riders per team will remain 8 for the Grand Tours, and 7 for other UCI WorldTour stage races

– concerning UCI WorldTour one-day races, the number of riders per team will be 6 or 7 (instead of the compulsory 7) in line with the organiser’s choice: if the organiser opts for 7 riders, teams will be able to have 6 riders at the start if they wish; on the other hand, if the organiser opts for teams of 6 riders, teams must comply with this choice; the organiser much receive the agreement of the Professional Cycling Council to reduce the number of riders from 7 to 6;

– concerning UCI Women’s WorldTour events, the maximum number of riders can be fixed at 5 (compared to 6 or 7 usually). This measure will enable organisers to invite more teams (a maximum of 26 compared to 24 normally).

This increased flexibility will enable teams with multiple commitments to participate in a greater number of events.

– The participation rules for UCI Women’s WorldTeams are revised for 2020: all UCI Women’s WorldTeams will be able to participate in C1 category events, and the allowance of three teams for C2 events is increased to five.

– The UCI International Calendar registration fees for events cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 crisis will not be requested by the UCI. In the same vein, the UCI will not demand the additional fee linked to changing the date of an event due to the worldwide pandemic.

– A steering group, under the authority of the UCI Medical Director Professor Xavier Bigard, including representatives of riders, teams (and their doctors) and organisers will have the mission of defining conduct to be adopted, in particular concerning health (social distancing, blocking gestures and other measures) for the resumption of the season.

Finally, the UCI indicates that the reorganisation of the end of the season for all other events on the UCI International Road Calendar – UCI ProSeries, Class 1, Class 2, UCI Nations’ Cups, Under-23 and Junior categories, and criteriums (men’s and women’s events) will be carried out in consultation with National Federations and announced on 20 May at the latest.