UCI President David Lapartiento said the postponed Monumento and shortened Giro d'Italia could be held in the fall as part of a plan to extend and redesign the pro cycling season due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on spring races.

Following a conference call with associations representing race organizers (AIOCC), teams (AIGCP), and riders (CPA), the UCI confirmed its intention to extend the season and find dates for the postponed Monument and Giro.

The UCI confirmed that no competitions will be held before the end of April, triggered by the official cancellation of the Amstel Gold Race, adding that if competitions resume this year, "the competitions on the calendar with resumption dates will take priority."

However, the governing body also promised to find room on the calendar for the Giro d'Italia, Milan-San Remo, and Paris-Roubaix, as well as the men's and women's Tour de Flanders and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and did not rule out the possibility that these races would overlap with existing events on the calendar It does not rule out the possibility that these races will overlap with existing events on the calendar.

"As for the men's calendar, depending on space, we will change it to three Grand Tours and cycling monuments, taking into account the possibility of overlaps." The principle of flexibility is also envisaged with regard to the number of team entries in the event."

The UCI added that the men's and women's season will be extended until November 1, and this resolution was submitted to and approved by the UCI Management Committee and the Professional Cycling Council.

"We are working with the organizers, the RCS, to find a location for the Giro, which will definitely be held in the fall," Lapartiento said in an interview with France TV Sport (opens in new tab).

"A possible path is a localized Giro, obviously redesigned and probably not the same length. But the Giro is clearly part of our priorities, along with the postponed classics, and we are very hopeful that it will be raced. As for the Tour de France, so far nothing has changed."

Some Italian teams have called for other races to be held during the Tour de France. Some teams have also optimistically suggested the possibility of holding the Giro d'Italia in early June.

The 2020 Giro was scheduled to start in Budapest on May 9, but the race was postponed last week after Hungary entered a state of emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Italy, the worst affected country in Europe, will remain on lockdown until at least April 3.

As it stands, the season's last monument, Il Lombardia, is scheduled for October 10, while the last World Tour race, the Tour of Guangxi (China), is scheduled for October 15-20.

In addition to extending the season to the end of October, the UCI is prepared to reorganize races already scheduled for the fall to make room for the Monument and Giro. This is similar to the situation in tennis, where the French Open was moved to September in order to preserve the important Grand Slam event.

"In the coming days and weeks, depending on the evolution of the epidemic, of course, we will work on remodeling the calendar," said Lapartiento.

"The first possibility is to modify the fall cycling monuments. To do this, the end of the season could be moved up two weeks to October 31. We will also research ways to shift certain race dates to make room for all."

La Partiente acknowledged that these plans would come to nothing if the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (currently set for July 24 to August 9) were postponed until the fall. ''But I don't see that happening,'' he said."

The obvious difficulty in making room for the postponed race has already been stated by Jean-François Broulard, manager of the Circus-Groupe Gobert.

"There will be races every day from March to mid-October," he told RTBF on Tuesday.

The situation becomes even more complicated when the postponements, which are still ongoing, go beyond the end of May. For now, races such as the Criterium du Dauphiné, Tour de Suisse, and Tour de France remain in their scheduled places on the calendar, but it remains unclear when cycling will resume this year in the current pandemic.

"That's for sure. 'We have to decide three weeks in advance if we are going to organize these stage races.'

"One question is whether the organization can arrange the necessary policing to guarantee the safety of the route, for example.

"Furthermore, a decision must be made and approved by the police three weeks in advance. This means that for this race [the Dauphiné], which starts on May 30, the decision will be made in early May."