The Tour of Norway is unlikely to return in 2020 due to a budget shortfall for the May 2.HC event, Norway's TV2 reported today.

Race director Roy Hegreberg told TV2 that the 2020 race, scheduled for the end of May, is not well funded due to reduced state support. Support for the race was about SEK 1 million (~€100,000) less than expected.

"The Tour of Norway has become a very large and demanding event," Hegreberg told TV2. 'We don't have an arena, so it's very expensive to organize it with the requirements that currently exist and with a team as large as the one that came. We know what we need, but we don't have the necessary funds for 2020 at the moment. With the signals we have received so far, I don't think it will be resolved.

"We think it would be more appropriate to cancel 2020, focus on 2021, and start securing funding to be able to implement it then."

According to TV2, the Norwegian government will allocate SEK 25 million for the 2020 cycling event, of which 15 million kroner will be allocated for the 2.Pro event, the Arctic Race of Norway, scheduled for August. The remainder of the first 15 million kroner will be split among the Hammer Stavenger, Tour of Norway, and Ladies Tour of Norway, with TV2 reportedly getting a "sizable" slice of the remaining pie.

"I should have made sure there was equal treatment for this," Hegreberg claimed, adding that his race requires about Kr6 million to run. He said, "The Ladies Tour is in a different situation, and cycling has a special need for such funding. But we want to make sure they are treated in the same way. If we had the same per diem funding as the other races, we would have been able to continue with our plans. But we didn't get it. In the long run I would like to see a little more equal treatment, but as of today our math doesn't add up."

Hegreberg said that the Norwegian Arctic Race was a great way to showcase northern Norway and that organizers were able to organize an event rooted in Norwegian politics.

The Tour of Norway was held in 1991 and 1992, but was discontinued until Wilco Kelderman won the overall title in 2011. Since then, Edvald Boasson Hagen has won three times. Other winners include Pieter Wehning, Jesper Hansen, Maciej Paterski, and 2019 winner Alexander Kristoff.