The UCI has postponed the widely anticipated announcement of dates for the revised fall men's and women's race calendar due to France's decision to ban major sporting events until September and doubts about the limits of the COVID-19 blockade, which varies across Europe. The UCI announcement is now expected on May 5.

Several major World Tour events were expected to return in August, including Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo, and most national road race championships were scheduled to take place on August 22-23. In addition, the Criterium du Dauphiné was scheduled to be shortened before the Tour de France was held from August 29 to September 20. The Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España were to follow the Tour de France in October, and major classics such as the Tour de Flanders and Paris-Roubaix would be held at the same time.

The women's World Tour calendar was expected to continue from September to November, with all major one-day races rescheduled, and Giro Rosa organizers had requested a new date of September 5-13, the second week of the Tour de France.

However, decisions by various countries and governments have made it less likely that major sporting events will be held in 2020, and cycling has been affected.

The UCI cancelled a meeting with key officials last week following a series of media leaks, but indicated that a race date would be confirmed after today's meeting.

However, the sport's governing body announced on Wednesday that it had chosen to take more time to develop the men's and women's race calendars and would postpone the announcement until May 5.

"The International Cycling Union (UCI) today announced that, with a view to resuming the 2020 cycling season in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, the men's and women's professional road cycling families - organizers (AIOCC), teams (AIGCP and UNIO), riders ( CPA and CPA Women), and Marianne Vos- a member of the UCI Athletes' Commission and the rider representative on the UCI Road Commission-united.

"It has been decided that the publication of the revised calendars for the 2020 UCI World Tour and UCI Women's World Tour, originally scheduled for today, will be postponed to early next week, for the benefit of all concerned.

"Indeed, the UCI and its partners need to proceed with the work as uncertainties remain due to the global health situation. As our federation recently reiterated, the recent measures taken by some European governments to restrict mass sporting events must also be taken into account when developing a UCI international calendar for the resumption of cycling.

"The UCI and the family of cycling aim to announce these calendars on Tuesday, May 5, following a meeting of the Professional Cycling Council (PCC), which is responsible for the UCI World Tour calendar... The UCI has announced that the PCC scheduled for today meeting has been postponed due to this situation.

The UCI will announce the revised calendar next week, as well as rules regarding team participation, the number of riders per team at the start of the race, and the establishment of a steering group aimed at defining the actions to be adopted when the season resumes, especially those related to health. It will be confirmed.

UCI President David Lapartient is reportedly continuing discussions with various stakeholders in the sport, including teams, riders, and race organizers, before announcing a possible date for the race, but before announcing a possible date for the race, the sport's governing body will be asked to review the various countries, especially realize the need to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 restrictions across Europe.

According to the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, UCI medical director Xavier Bigard's opinion will have a significant impact on the possibility of races taking place on the dates scheduled for August and September.

The decision by European countries to delay the easing of closure measures and to cancel all major sporting events, even in September, will likely have an impact on the revised race calendar.

The new dates for the Tour de France were finalized in mid-April, helping to give hope to riders and sponsors, but they did not answer the question of how the race could proceed while the risk of COVID-19 remains. Further calendar changes would only cause further confusion and intensify the power struggle between rival race organizers.

La Gazzetta dello Sport, which owns the Giro d'Italia and belongs to the same RCS media group as the race organizers, suggested that the Tour de France could not be moved again, warning: "If the Tour de France does not start on August 29 29, or it will be cancelled.

The French national championships, scheduled for the week before the August 29 Grande Palais, will be canceled following an announcement by the French government on Tuesday, with the mayor of the host city of Plumelec telling Ouest France that the event would not take place. Organizers of the Brittany Classic in Plouët, currently scheduled for August 25, are hoping to hold the event despite the limited public gathering, although they will limit the number of spectators at the finish to 3,000 paying spectators.

Meanwhile, in Germany, organizers of the national championships in Stuttgart announced Wednesday that they will not be held in August due to a coronavirus pandemic. Instead, it was postponed to June 2021, and Winterberg, the original 2021 host city, was chosen to host the 2022 championship.