Fort William World Cup Cancelled, Nove Mesto World Cup XC Postponed
The Fort William World Cup has been cancelled and the Nove Mesto World Cup XC has been postponed due to the spread of Coronavirus.
Great Britain entered a full lockdown period yesterday and British Cycling also announced that it had extended its suspension of cycling activities until June 30, leaving an inevitability that the World Cup would not run on its scheduled June 6/7 dates. Instead of looking to reschedule later in the year however, the organisers have asked the UCI to cancel the event. A statement from Fort William read: "We did investigate re-scheduling options with cycling’s governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale and other partners but no alternative viable dates could be found." This means that we are now down to, at most, a 6 round series as Losinj also cancelled their event last week.
Revised 2020 World Cup Calendar
21/22 March: Lousa - Postponed, date tbc
02/03 May: Maribor - Postponed, date tbc
09/10 May: Losinj - Cancelled
06/07 June: Fort William - Cancelled
20/21 June: Vallnord
22/23 August: Mont-Sainte-Anne
12/13 September: Val di Sole
19/20 Septmeber: Les Gets
21/22 March: Lousa - Postponed, date tbc
02/03 May: Maribor - Postponed, date tbc
09/10 May: Losinj - Cancelled
06/07 June: Fort William - Cancelled
20/21 June: Vallnord
22/23 August: Mont-Sainte-Anne
12/13 September: Val di Sole
19/20 Septmeber: Les Gets
The Nove Mesto organisers announced on March 20 they would wait until April 20 before making a decision on whether to push ahead with the event, however it seems they have had to bring that forward as the postponement was announced by the UCI today instead. A new date for the race has not yet been confirmed. This is the first XC World Cup to be affected this year but it follows the postponement of the Olympics that was announced yesterday.
 | Due to the current pneumonia epidemic (Covid-19) linked to the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) must announce that the fourth round of the 2020 Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup which was to take place in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, on 22 and 24 May will not take place on the scheduled dates, and that the fifth stop in Fort William (Great Britain), scheduled for 6 and 7 June has been cancelled at the request of the organisers. In light of the current situation, the UCI fully supports the fact that the running of the events would have potentially presented a health risk to riders, to everyone involved in the event and to fans, and could have contributed to the spread of Covid-19. The new date of the Nove Mesto na Morave leg will be announced by the UCI, in consultation with the organising committee, on due course. The UCI shares the disappointment of the mountain bike community after the decision made to cancel the Fort William event and would like to thank both organising committees for their cooperation in this difficult situation, as well as the riders, teams and all parties involved for their understanding. |
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#FLATCURVESOCIETY
If anybody thinks they will be flying to other countries for pleasure or sport, that international sports / events (or even national for that matter in larger countries) or the like will be happening at all this year I would bet they are mistaken.
This things going to last for months at its worst and nobody has an ‘exit strategy’ yet, in my head am resigned to a good year of restricted life in some significant way or another.
@bernat Spain has folks being left for dead in nursing homes along with dead bodies form the last BBC article i read earlier today. How is that 100% lock down working for them? I feel sorry for them.