The Volta a Catalunya, which was supposed to be held to celebrate its 100th anniversary, will not be held in 2020.

The week-long World Tour race will celebrate its 100th edition in 2021.

After being postponed due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, organizers had hoped to schedule the 2020 race by the end of the year. However, the new tentative fall calendar, with the Tour de France in September, followed by the World Championships, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España, proved too crowded to find a venue for the week-long Volta a Catalunya.

The full calendar, including specific dates for the Giro and Vuelta and certain one-day classics, will be announced after an important UCI meeting on Wednesday; the two Grand Tours will overlap by a week and the classics will be held at the same time throughout October.

"The absolute priority now is to fight COVID-19 and avoid its spread: the UCI's officialized cycling calendar has been reduced to essentially three months, and we want to celebrate the 100th edition with the best cyclists in the world with the utmost assurance," said Volta's race said Volta's race director, Ruben Peris.

"We have made it clear that we don't want to do the Volta at any cost. It makes no sense to hold it at the same time as the Tour, Giro, and Vuelta, and it would compete for the best riders and TV viewers. Nor did we consider holding the event on a reduced number of days. We believe the most appropriate option is to hold the race in 2021 on normal dates."

The Volta a Catalunya was first held in 1911 and was interrupted by World War I and the Spanish Civil War before being suspended from 1939 to 2019.

It has been held in March since 2010 and has become an important test for Grand Tour riders thanks to its foray into the Pyrenees, with recent winners including Miguel Angel Lopez, Alejandro Valverde, Nairo Quintana, and Richie Porte.

"We have to be positive and I am sure it was worth the wait," Peris added.

"We won't do it this 2020, but next year it will continue to be a centennial bolter.