Tour de France postponed, to be
held from August 29 - September 20
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[April 15, 2020]
By Julien Pretot
PARIS (Reuters) - The Tour de France
has been postponed to Aug. 29-Sept 20 due to the novel coronavirus
pandemic, the International Cycling Union (UCI) said on Wednesday.
French president Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that no public event
would take place in the country until mid-July as part of measures
to contain the coronavirus outbreak, which has infected over two
million people worldwide.
The Tour de France was due to be held from June 27-July 19.
The UCI added that Italy's Giro and Spain's Vuelta would follow the
Tour in a revised calendar and the men's road race at the world
championships in Martigny, Switzerland, would go ahead as scheduled
on Sept 27.
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"The Tour de France is postponed and will take place this year from
29 August to 20 September," the UCI said in a statement.
"Holding this event in the best conditions possible is judged
essential given its central place in cycling’s economy and its
exposure, in particular for the teams that benefit on this occasion
from unparalleled visibility."
"It's a great joy, we were starting to get desperate," France's
Julian Alaphilippe, who wore the yellow jersey on last year's race,
told the France 2 TV channel.
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![](../images/041520pics/sports45.jpg)
eam INEOS rider Egan Bernal of Colombia, wearing the overall
leader's yellow jersey, in action in front of the Arc de Triomphe.
REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
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Priority has been given to the grands tours and the top one-day
races, the sport's governing body said as it extended the suspension
of elite racing until Aug. 1.
"The Giro d’Italia will take place after the UCI Worlds and will be
followed by the Vuelta Ciclista a Espana," the UCI statement added.
"The most prestigious one-day road races (the Monuments), ie Milano-Sanremo
(Italy), the Tour des Flandres (Belgium), Paris-Roubaix (France),
Liege-Bastogne-Liege (Belgium) and Il Lombardia (Italy), will all
take place this season, at dates still to be defined."
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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