Tour de Suisse cancels, will not be re-scheduled in 2020
Tour de France currently first race on WorldTour calendar after cancelation of both Tour de Suisse and Criterium du Dauphine this week.
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The Tour de Suisse has become the latest race to cancel due to the coronavirus pandemic. The seven-stage race had been due to start June 7.
Race organizers confirmed the news Friday, and stated that there would be no re-scheduling to later in the season as it “is not feasible in logistical and financial terms.”
“It was with a heavy heart that we have made this decision due to the corona pandemic,” Olivier Senn, Co-Managing Director of the Tour de Suisse organization said. “We are however convinced that it is the best solution to provide certainty and thus planning security for participants, fans and partners. For the Tour de Suisse, it is also an important step to ensure the continuation of this event in the future.”
The Tour de Suisse is traditionally seen as one of the two key preparation races for the Tour de France, alongside the Criterium du Dauphine. Earlier this week, the UCI suspended all racing through to June 1, meaning the Dauphine had to cancel. Organizers of the French race, which had been scheduled to start May 31, are looking to reschedule to later in the year.
The cancelation of both the Tour de Suisse and Criterium du Dauphine means the first race currently in the WorldTour calendar is the Tour de France, June 27.
Although Tour de Suisse was in the period after UCI was planning to lift its suspension on racing, organizers of the event cited a range of factors for the cancelation. These included: fear of placing the health system under extra pressure through race crashes; the uneven playing field resulting from differing lockdown conditions on riders across the globe; and concerns over financial loss due to difficulty securing sponsors and selling hospitality packages through the past months of global economic uncertainty.
Organizers are anticipating the 2021 edition of the race to take place “with very few changes from the plans for this year’s event,” at some point early June.