After the postponement of the 2020 edition to September, it is now the dates of the 2021 edition to be changed. At the end of the Professional Cycling Council on Tuesday August 28, the International Cycling Union (UCI) brought the Tour de France 2021 forward by one week, with a kick-off set for June 26.
New departure city to find
The UCI’s decision is due to the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics for one year and the announcement by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to keep the program unchanged between the start of the events fixed on July 23 and the end of the 8 August 2021. If the Tour was not advanced, the best riders in the world would have been forced to choose and would have risked being forced to ignore the Olympics.
→ EXPLANATION. Tour de France: how is the route determined?
The organizers of the Tour de France 2021 will have to find another starting city. Copenhagen, where the Tour was originally supposed to start from, must indeed already host Euro football matches on the new date found by the UCI.
An alternative solution is represented by the candidature of the Brittany region, revealed last week. The mayor of Copenhagen has mentioned 2022 for a departure in his city.
The amateur race of the Etape du Tour 2020 canceled
The amateur race of L’Étape du tour, which had been rescheduled for September 6, 2020 on the route of the second stage of the Tour de France, around Nice, with the climbs of the Col de La Colmiane, the Col de Turini and the Col d’Èze, was canceled. Registrants will be able to get a refund or participate in the event in 2021.
→ READ. Tour de France 2020 route: map of stages unveiled
The 2020 edition of the Tour de France will start from Nice on August 29, with an arrival on the Champs-Élysées scheduled for September 20.
.
