The Covid-19 finally got the better of Paris-Roubaix.
The 2020 edition of the "queen of classics", scheduled for October 25 after a first postponement, was canceled Friday October 9 due to the health situation.
The great cobblestone race has borne the brunt of the new restrictions taken to curb the worsening of the Covid-19 epidemic in northern France.
This is the first time it has been canceled since 1942.
The announcement comes the day after the Lille ranking, from Saturday, in the maximum alert zone by the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran.
This classification, already valid for Aix-Marseille and Paris, implies reinforced health measures, such as the closure of events and establishments open to the public.
Official Communication: see you on the 11th April 2021
Official Communiqué
: see you on April
11, 2021! #ParisRoubaix pic.twitter.com/g1ao7F9ZG3
- Paris-Roubaix (@Paris_Roubaix) October 9, 2020
The decision was taken "at the request of the prefect of the North and of the Hauts-de-France region", explained the organizer ASO, following "the announcement of Olivier Véran, Minister of Solidarity and Health, placing the European metropolis of Lille in a high alert zone ".
"We are disappointed and sad to have to give up the 'queen of the classics'," Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme, organizer of Paris-Roubaix, told AFP.
"But we obviously understand and accept the prefect's decision. The priority goes to people's health."
Famous for its cobbled sectors, the best known of which is the Arenberg gap, Paris-Roubaix, which was created in 1896, is one of the five classic "monuments", the five largest non-championship day races. of the world, of the cycling season.
The first female edition also canceled
Last spring, the 118th edition of the classic was postponed from April 12 to October 25, according to the calendar developed by the International Cycling Union (UCI) to take into account the Covid-19 pandemic.
The first edition of the women's Paris-Roubaix is also canceled, said the organizers who have given an appointment for April 11, 2021, the date on the calendar for next year.
I was happy to compete in the first #ParisRoubaix Feminin in history with my tricolor jersey on October 25.
😔
Part postponed on April 11, 2021. 🤞🇫🇷 https://t.co/GhbcfXLRvx
- Audrey CORDON-RAGOT (@CordonRagot) October 9, 2020
Of the five monuments, three were able to take place (the Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Lombardy, Liège-Bastogne-Liège).
The Tour of Flanders, the Flemish counterpart of Paris-Roubaix which also uses cobbled sections, is scheduled for October 18 with, as head of the list, the reigning world champion, the French Julian Alaphilippe, who will discover the Belgian race.
If the biggest events of the season, namely the "monuments", the world championship, the Giro and, above all, the Tour de France, have been able to take place so far despite the pandemic, many races had to be canceled this year.
To date, Paris-Roubaix is the most prestigious of the striped events in the 2020 program. On October 25, the great classic was scheduled at the same time as the last stage of the Giro in Milan and the 6th stage of the Vuelta ending on the pass. Pyrenean Tourmalet.
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