The UCI announced Thursday that it is evaluating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women's professional cycling, with input from stakeholders within the sport, with the goal of resuming competition during the 2020 season.

The UCI said in a press release that it is working with CPA Women, which represents women riders, and Marianne Vos, a member of the UCI Athletes Commission and the rider representative on the UCI Road Commission. They are also working with the AIOCC, an association of race organizers, organizers of UCI Women's World Tour events, and the newly formed women's team association UNIO.

"We have joined forces to ensure that women's road cycling survives the current crisis [the coronavirus outbreak] in the best possible condition with a view to resuming for the 2020 season," the press release reads.

The UCI confirmed that organizers of about 800 events across all disciplines and categories have requested that events be postponed or cancelled. This number represents one-third of the UCI international calendar.

The sports governing bodies have suspended racing until July 1 (and until August 1 for the UCI WorldTour and UCI Women's WorldTour) due to health precautions and government restrictions following the new coronavirus pandemic, and these cancellations have particularly affected women's cycling and its top The impact on the women's World Tour at the top level was acknowledged.

Of the 22 events in the Women's World Tour this year, only one took place. Fourteen tournaments were cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic. Currently, there are only eight top-class races remaining on the original schedule.

CyclingNews spoke with Alessandra Cappelotto, manager of CPA Women, on Monday. She also confirmed on social media that the Giro d'Italia Internazionale Feminale (Giro Rosa) has requested a new slot later in the season, September 5-13, the second week of the Tour de France.

Cappelotto told Cycling News that CPA Women is requesting that the women's race continue through the end of November with major races, and that the organizers of the men's and women's events jointly request that both events be rescheduled at the same time. He also emphasized that the possibility of a schedule change depends on the government regulations that have been put in place due to the new coronavirus outbreak.

In an announcement last Wednesday, the UCI said that in revising the international road calendar for 2020, priority will be given to the three Grand Tours and five Monuments, as well as the World, European, and various national championships.

The new Women's World Tour calendar and a new version of the entire international calendar (men's and women's races across all cycling disciplines) could be announced by May 15, but this is almost certainly before any health restrictions are put in place by national governments due to the new coronavirus is almost certain.

"In this difficult situation for all parties, the UCI has been in contact over the past few weeks with all parties involved in women's and men's professional road cycling, working together to develop a revised calendar for the 2020 UCI Women's World Tour and UCI World Tour

"To do so, the UCI must consider multiple factors. In particular, it must take into account the fact that some organizers co-host women's and men's events, the diversity of national situations (especially with regard to major events, with different measures imposed by national governments), and the diversity of technical means and resources available to each team to resume racing.

Meanwhile, the UCI has decided on the general framework of the women's calendar after consultation with the women riders, organizers, and representatives of the women's teams.

The UCI stated that it would communicate the working group's conclusions to all parties concerned as soon as possible so that they could be as prepared as possible for the re-launch of the calendar.

"The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to our sport, resulting in a brutal season interruption with dramatic sporting and economic consequences for organizers, teams, and riders," President David Lapartier said in a press release. [This comes at a time when several important steps initiated by the UCI to support women's professional road cycling, including the introduction of minimum salaries at the UCI Women's WorldTeams level, have just been realized.

"The UCI and, in particular, Marianne Vos, organizer and UNIO as members of the CPA Women, UCI Athlete Commission, are working together to get women's professional cycling back on track, including in particular the revision of the UCI Women's World Tour calendar for 2020.

"Together with our partners, we will propose a new schedule of UCI Women's World Tour events as soon as possible, and of course as soon as the global health situation allows. Faced with this enormous challenge, we must remain more united, responsible and strong than ever to get the sport back on track, while keeping the health of our athletes and all involved our top priority."

Ronnie Lauke is the president of UNIO, a new association formed by and representing women's professional cycling teams registered with the UCI. It currently represents 22 of the 44 women's teams registered with the UCI, including five of the eight world teams.

"As the newly formed association of professional women's teams, we are pleased to be working with the UCI and other cycling stakeholders to help women's road cycling combat the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on the 2020 season," Lauke Lauke said.

"We are united in our pursuit of the same goal: the health of our riders, the safety of our teams, and the revision of the 2020 UCI international calendar.