Madrid (dpa) - The planned start of the tour of Spain this year in the Netherlands has been canceled due to the corona crisis.
The bike organizer announced that the Vuelta, which was originally scheduled to start with three stages abroad, could not take place this year. Instead of the original 21 stages, 18 daily sections are now being driven. The new starting point is Irun in the Basque Country.
Since there are no World Tour races due to the pandemic until August 1st, the cycling calendar has been mixed up a lot. The Vuelta should have started in mid-August, but the Tour de France, which has been postponed, should now take place during this period.
In view of the difficult situation, no new joint appointment was found. The Vuelta launch in the Netherlands could now be an option for 2022, as the organizers wrote. The cycling calendar currently provides for the three major tours Tour, Vuelta and Giro, the World Road Cycling Championships and all five major one-day races to take place from August.
The new cycling calendar for the World Tour, which has been adapted due to the coronavirus pandemic, is now to be published on May 5. "The measures recently taken by some European governments to restrict mass sports events still have to be taken into account," said the world association UCI. Originally, the UCI wanted to announce the calendar in April.
Homepage of the Vuelta 2020
Planned route
Message from the Vuelta organizers
