Spain Setback as it Cancels Netherlands Start for Big Sporting Showpiece

SPAIN has been forced to cancel this year’s planned start in the Netherlands in a setback for the big La Vuelta cycle race.

La Vuelta and the Giro D’Italia are the top two cycling road events after the premier race of the Tour de France, but the coronavirus crisis has forced the Spanish and Italian competitions to be postponed deep into the autumn.

La Vuelta’s postponement was inevitable after Tour de France organisers put back their start date by two months towards the end of August, forcing a clash with the Spanish contest.

Then the Dutch government ruled that no sporting events can take place in the country until September, which led to La Vuelta organisers conceding that if the race does happen later in the year, it will not begin in the Netherlands.

Utrecht was set to host the opening stage of La Vuelta on August 14, but after the International Cycling Union (UCI) suspended competitive racing until August 1 and the
Tour de France, initially due to be held in July, was postponed until August 29, La Vuelta has been left without a start date.

“With all this, La Vuelta has been postponed to be held after the Cycling World Cup and not on the dates originally planned (August 14 – September 6),” a spokesman said.

The UCI are due to unveil a revised calendar in the coming days, but will have to wait on what the French government decides.

The new start date of August 29 falls outside the ruling that all sporting events in the country are banned until September.

A further delay can complicate matters still further on trying to rearrange La Vuelta and the Giro d’Italia.

Author badge placeholder
Written by

Alex Trelinski

Comments