Dear Rouleurs
Let’s face it the last 3 months or so has been bloody awful without competitive cycling. Watching the fairly boring replays of the Paris-Nice 2020 on SBS, is no substitute for a fully fledged spring classics season. So it was with some excitement that MMT heard through his favourite podcasts that the UCI had published a revised 2020 event calendar.
It looks like this. MMT hasn’t figured out how to show the Women’s events yet, so accusations of sexism please.
| Race | Country | Date |
| Eschborn–Frankfurt | Germany | 1 May – Delayed due to COVID-19 |
| Strade Bianche | Italy | 1 August |
| Tour de Pologne | Poland | 5–9 August |
| Milan–San Remo | Italy | 8 August |
| Critérium du Dauphiné | France | 12–16 August |
| EuroEyes Cyclassics | Germany | 16 August – Delayed due to COVID-19 |
| Bretagne Classic Ouest–France | France | 25 August |
| Tour de France | France | 29 August – 20 September |
| Tirreno–Adriatico | Italy | 7–14 September |
| GP de Québec | Canada | 11 September |
| GP de Montréal | Canada | 13 September |
| BinckBank Tour | Belgium Netherlands | 29 September – 3 October |
| La Flèche Wallonne | Belgium | 30 September |
| Giro d’Italia | Italy | 3–25 October |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | Belgium | 4 October |
| Amstel Gold Race | Netherlands | 10 October |
| Gent–Wevelgem | Belgium | 11 October |
| Dwars door Vlaanderen | Belgium | 14 October |
| Tour of Guangxi | China | 15–20 October |
| Tour of Flanders | Belgium | 18 October |
| Vuelta a España | Spain | 20 October – 8 November |
| Three Days of Bruges–De Panne | Belgium | 21 October |
| Paris–Roubaix | France | 25 October |
| Il Lombardia | Italy | 31 October |
Now a few aspects of this schedule are immediately obvious, such as the enormous overlap between one day races and grand tours. Spain has lost all of its races, except the La Vuelta. MMT reckons that cyclists being earmarked for the Tour Guangxi would be looking for danger money.
But what’s interesting about this compressed season is the impact that it may have on the grand tours. It seems to MMT that teams will be forced to choose which races to prioritise. For a team like Ineos, they may choose to skip many of the one day events. For a team like Quickstep, MMT guesses that it will write off the Giro. The French and Dutch based teams will have serious thinking to do. One wonders which of the tours, Mitchellton-Scott will prioritise?
Either way its going to be fascinating to see how this turns out. Speaking of fascinating – MMT has completed his bike log for the first in years on time and May was a great month. The last week or so meant the Zwift-Tacx Neo trainer was pushed aside for some time outdoors. Some days were actually delightful for cycling.
So until next time, stay safe, ride safe
MMT