COVID Concerns Continue To Play Havoc With 2021 Race Schedule

Strap in folks, the ride continues to be bumpy for a while

The year 2020 was the most chaotic cycling season the modern pro peloton has ever seen, and 2021 has started out in similar fashion.

Gone from the schedule are some of the biggest “pre-season” races that teams, riders and fans have become used to headlined by the canceled Men’s & Women’s Tour Down Under.

Players in our FSA Directeur Sportif contest as well as the cycling community in general are left wondering what the season is going to look like.

This article uses a few categories that may not be familiar to the new cycling fan. Included here are several types of races: World Tour where the top teams in the world compete and a limited amount of smaller teams are allowed in by invitation; Pro, which contains both World Tour (the top teams) and Professional Continental (the next level down) teams as well as Continental teams of the host country; Category 1 which contains World Tour, Professional Continental and the lower step Continental teams; and Category 2 which contains the lower level teams (topping out at Professional Continental).

Looking forward, here are the Women’s World Tour races that have been cancelled so far, according to Pro Cycling Stats. No men’s World Tour events are shown as cancelled.

• UCI Women’s WorldTour Ronde van Drenthe on March 14
• Itzulia Women stage race on May 14
• RideLondon Classic on May 30

Pro Classification races cancelled so far are as follows on the men’s side:

• Tour of Oman that was to start on February 9
• Grand Prix of Denain - Porte du Hainaut on March 18
• Yorkshire Tower on April 29

Category 1 men’s races cancelled are as follows:

• Tour of Antalya starting February 12
• Vuelta Ciclista in the Region of Murcia starting February 12
• Vuelta del Porvenir starting February 17
• Ronde van Drenthe on March 13
• Cycling Circuit Sarthe - Pays de la Loire starting on April 25
• Vuelta in the Comunidad de Madrid starting on May 6
• Tacx Pro Classic / Ronde van Zeeland Starting June 5

On the Women’s side of Category 1, cancelled are:

• V Setmana Ciclista Valenciana - Vuelta Comunitat Valenciana Feminas starting February 18
• ASDA Tour of Yorkshire Women’s Race starting April 30
• Colorado Classic starting August 26

There are also many Category 2 races that have also been given the axe this year by organizers in the face of the COVID challenge. On the men’s side, they include:

• Vuelta del Porvenir starting February 17
• Volta ao Alentejo starting March 17
• Tour of Normandy starting March 22
• The Cyclist Tour of Brittany staring April 25
• Rent Liv Løbet Skive on August 22

On the Women’s side, Category 2 races that have been cancelled includes the Vuelta Castellon by VCV starting February 26.

This list is fluid and some races that have been cancelled may be rescheduled (if last year is any indication about how things will work going forward).