Egan Bernal, winner of the Tour de France 2019, on the criterium of Shanghai, November 16, 2019. - STR / AFP

The 2021 Tour de France will not start in Copenhagen. Indeed, the International Cycling Union (UCI), has decided to bring forward the kick-off of the competition and to set it for June 26, due to the postponement of one year of the Tokyo Olympics and the announcement by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to keep the program unchanged between the start of the events fixed on July 23 and the end on August 8, 2021.

If the Tour was not advanced, the best riders in the world would have been forced to choose and would have risked being forced to ignore the Olympics. The Grand Départ site will therefore not be based in the Danish capital.

An alternative solution to the departure from Copenhagen, since the Danish capital cannot host the matches of the Euro football and the Tour at the same time, is represented by the candidature of the Brittany region, revealed last week. The mayor of Copenhagen, who has considered the hypothesis of a change of site, mentioned 2022 for a departure in his city.

The Vuelta as advanced by a week

After the Professional Cycling Council meeting held on Tuesday, the UCI has formalized the dates for the 2021 WorldTour calendar, with its 35 events in 12 different countries. “To avoid an overlap of the Olympic road cycling races (July 24, 25 and 28) with the Tour de France (initially scheduled for July 2 to 25), the French stage race will end on July 18, the weekend before the first weekend of the Olympics ”, confirmed the UCI. “As for the Vuelta, it will be held a week earlier than its usual dates, to allow a better transition between the Vuelta, the European Championships (announced for the weekend of September 11-12) and the world championships », Added the international federation.

The UCI also regretted that the organizers of the Tour of California (United States) and Ride London (Great Britain), in two countries "important for high-level cycling", did not ask to register. their event on the 2021 WorldTour calendar. The next WorldTour will start in Australia on January 19, 2021.

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Tour de France 2021: Chrono, sprint and curbs… The three Danish stages are known

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