Madrid (AFP)
The route of the Tour of Spain cycling 2020, rescheduled from October 20 to November 8 due to the epidemic of new coronavirus, will not pass through Portugal as planned, announced the organizers of the Vuelta this Saturday via press release.
"Given the exceptional situation caused by the Covid-19 health crisis, and faced with the impossibility of being able to ensure optimal conditions for the holding of the race on their territory, the municipalities of Porto, Matosinhos and Viseu, in agreement with Unipublic, the organizing company of the Vuelta, have decided that the route of the Vuelta will not pass through Portugal, "announced the organizers via a press release issued this Saturday.
"The 15th stage, whose arrival was to take place between the municipalities of Porto and Matosinhos, and the 16th stage, which was to leave from the city of Viseu, will therefore see their route modified," said the organizers.
The cities which will replace Porto, Matosinhos and Viseu (in the north of the country) are already confirmed and will be announced "in the coming weeks". After these changes, the Vuelta no longer expects to change its route, according to the organizers.
"It's a shame not to be able to visit Portugal in 2020, but we don't want this flame to go out: we will maintain the relationships we have built and we will make them live in the future so that we can return to this country who treated us so well, "reacted Javier Guillén, the director general of the Spanish loop, quoted in the press release.
On Friday, the organizers announced the list of 22 teams that will participate in the 75th edition of the Vuelta, without the Arkea-Samsic training of Colombian Nairo Quintana, nor the Alpecin of Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel.
To the 19 teams that make up the WorldTour (1st division), Unipublic has added the French team Total DE, qualified by right after its first place in the classification of second division 2019, and the two Spanish Burgos and Caja Rural, already present in the peloton de la Vuelta in previous years.
The Vuelta 2020, which was originally scheduled to start on August 14 from Utrecht (Netherlands) and end on September 6 in Madrid, has seen its calendar turned upside down, like the whole cycling season, due of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Spanish Tour will therefore start on October 20 from Irun in the Basque Country and will arrive on November 8 in Madrid, and will count six days together with the Italian Giro (October 3 - 25).
© 2020 AFP