Revised National Road Series Calendars released

australiancyclinginsider

Cycling Australia has announced two provisional calendars of racing for a revised 2020 National Road Series, depending on when restrictions on travel and public gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic are lifted.

Australian Cycling Insider has heard from a number of sources that Cycling Australia’s Head of Sport, Kipp Kauffmann, went into quick action as soon as the shutdown of activities by Australian federal and state governments took hold. This included liasing with race directors from Australian and New Zealand races to see what form a new calendar of racing could look like.

Today’s announcement has seen the floating of two race calendars, based on the timing of when the bans on travel and events are lifted, with a final call to be made four weeks ahead of the event’s proposed start.

Not all NRS events have been affected, with a number scheduled later in the year. The original calendar contained 26 race days for the men, with 13 for the women, while the Scenario 1 revised calendar will see 20 for the men and 12 for the women. The Scenario 2 calendar contains 14 race days for the men and 12 for the women, with the Tour of the Great South Coast the only casualty, with the Grafton to Inverell being pushed into its timeslot.

The original 2020 National Road Series calendar, now obsolete (Cycling Australia)

The main takeaways from the Cycling Australia announcement were:

“The Tour of the Tropics will be postponed until 2021 and has secured full funding support to return next year.

The Tour of Brisbane has been postponed until 2021 when it will return as an NRS Race, UCI Gran Fondo Qualifier and Oceania Road Championships (subject to final approval by the UCI and Oceania Cycling Confederation).

The Grafton to Inverell has been postponed and all efforts will be made to host the 60th edition in 2020.

Due to Federal and State and Territory Government restrictions that remain in place across the country, Cycling Australia can confirm that no National Road Series events will be conducted until at least September 2020.

The scenarios may also change further depending on future Federal, State and Territory Government restrictions and in the case where restrictions are not opened at least four weeks prior, some events will be cancelled and not rescheduled. Additionally, no races will be conducted unless approved by the relevant host Governments and all health and safety requirements are met.”

Revised National Road Series Calendars

Scenario 1:

September 4-6: Tour of the Tweed
September 19: Grafton to Inverell
October 8-10: Tour of Gippsland (VRS Mt Baw Baw classic to be run on the 11th)
November 10-15: Tour of the Great South Coast
November 27-28: L’Etape Australia
December 9-13/11-13: Tour of Tasmania (No Stan Siejka Classic)

Scenario 2:

October 8-10: Tour of Gippsland (VRS Mt Baw Baw classic to be run on the 11th)
October 23-25: Tour of the Tweed
November 14: Grafton to Inverell
November 27-28: L’Etape Australia
December 9-13/11-13: Tour of Tasmania (No Stan Siejka Classic)

Written by Jamie Finch-Penninger