It is one of the most iconic races in the world of cycling and for the first time in history a women’s edition of Paris-Roubaix will take place this year, as the UCI revealed a brand new, revised Women’s World Tour calendar in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
The world of cycling welcomed the news, after calls for a women’s edition of the race intensified. Following a discussion initiated by the UCI, and in collaboration with ASO, the new Monument will be on 25th October, as the women’s professional peloton will now also have the long-awaited opportunity to tackle the “Hell of the North” as the calendar continues to expand.
The Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race – Elite Women’s Race (Australia) is the only event of the 2020 UCI Women’s WorldTour that was able to take place before the coronavirus spread worldwide and brought the cycling season to a stop. The health crisis has taken a heavy toll on this major series for women’s professional road cycling with three events cancelled – Women’s WorldTour Ronde van Drenthe (the Netherlands), Trofeo Alfredo Binda – Comune di Cittiglio (Italy) and OVO Energy Women’s Tour (Great Britain). The revised UCI Women’s WorldTour calendar will start on 1st August with the Strade Bianche and finish on 8 November with the Ceratizit Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta (Spain). The 2020 series will include 18 events: 13 one-day races and five stage races.
The UCI WWT Calendar
-1st August: Strade Bianche (Italy)
-8 August: Postnord UCI WWT Vårgårda West Sweden TTT (Sweden)
-9 August: Postnord UCI WWT Vårgårda West Sweden RR (Sweden)
-13-16 August: Ladies Tour of Norway (Norway)
-26 August: GP de Plouay – Lorient Agglomération Trophée WNT (France)
-29 August: La Course by Le Tour de France (France)
-1-6 September: Boels Ladies Tour (the Netherlands)
-11-19 September: Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile (Italy)
-30 September: La Flèche Wallonne Féminine (Belgium)
-4 October: Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes (Belgium)
-10 October: Amstel Gold Race Ladies (the Netherlands)
-11 October: Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields (Belgium)
-18 October : Ronde van Vlaanderen (Belgium)
-20 October: Tour of Guangxi Women’s WorldTour (China)
-20 October: Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne (Belgium)
-23-25 October: Tour of Chongming Island (China)
-25 October: Paris-Roubaix (France)
-6-8 November: Ceratizit Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta (Spain)
UCI President David Lappartient declared: “We have established a 2020 UCI Women’s WorldTour calendar that is as coherent as possible, alternating one-day races and stage races, and maintaining the circuit’s major events, notably the Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile and the Classics.
“The new calendar will preserve the exceptional character of the 2020 season, marked by the professionalisation of women’s road cycling with the introduction of UCI Women’s WorldTeams and new major measures such as a minimum salary for cyclists in these teams, live TV coverage of all events in the series and the integration of a women’s version of Paris-Roubaix, at the initiative of the UCI in collaboration with ASO.
“As with men’s racing, I would like to thank the representatives of women riders and teams, as well as organisers, for their constructive spirit in the discussions which enabled us to draw up, together, this revised calendar in the extremely difficult context of the coronavirus pandemic.”
