The 2020 Tour of Flanders (open in new tab) could be held on the Saturday before the World Championships after the Plymouth Classic offered to give up its September 19 calendar slot.

The Tour of Flanders was originally scheduled to take place last Sunday, but was postponed along with all spring classics and the Giro d'Italia due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, all races through June 1 have been suspended, and many June races, including the Tour de Suisse, have been canceled.

The UCI is discussing a contingency plan to extend the season until November and hold the postponed classics and Giro d'Italia in the fall. The Tour de France is said to have a plan B, hoping that the sport's biggest Grand Tour will be held between July 25 and August 16, a month later than planned.

However, with many parts of the world still sealed off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains unclear when and if competition will resume this season.

On Tuesday, Plymouth Classic organizing committee member Philippe Beke told Het Laatste Nieuws (open in new tab) that he would be willing to give up the September 19 date to the Tour of Flanders if the event's sponsors gave permission.

"Discussions are taking place," he said. But only if the sponsors agree."

Van den Spiegel, who on Sunday expressed hope that the Ronde would be held in 2020, later admitted that the Flanders Classic was in talks with the Plymouth Classic organization.

"There has been a lot of speculation in recent weeks about what will happen to the calendar, and this fits into that trend," van den Spiegel told Het Nieuwsblad (open in new tab).

"It is true that discussions have taken place, but it is not up to us to decide on the new schedule for Ronde. It is the UCI that decides the calendar. We certainly don't want to be the sole runner."

"The reason why I spoke with GP Impagni is because it is good to know that there are other solutions if necessary. It's good that these scenarios are being discussed, but at this point we can't even call it a Plan B.

The UCI last week finalized the schedule for the World Championships in Martigny, September 20-27, moving the elite men's individual time trial to the opening Sunday, which had previously been dominated by the team time trial.

The decision was criticized by team managers such as Richard Plagge (Jumbo Visma) and Patrick Lefebvre (Deceuninck-Quick Step). They believed that the UCI should have left the weekend of September 19-20 open for re-racing.