Tour de Yorkshire postponed until 2022 due to coronavirus concerns organisers announce
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Updated 12/11/2020 at 16:38 GMT
The 2021 Tour de Yorkshire will not go ahead, with organisers Welcome to Yorkshire choosing to focus attention on the area’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic with no guarantees the event could have gone ahead. Organisers are optimistic that the popular race will return in 2022.
Tour de Yorkshire, Haworth
Image credit: Getty Images
The 2021 Tour de Yorkshire will be postponed until 2022, organisers have announced.
This year's edition was cancelled due to Covid-19, but with the pandemic continuing to create uncertainty, an early decision has been made to postpone the British stage race.
Organisers Welcome to Yorkshire, the county’s tourism agency, said it needed to concentrate its efforts and finances on “the immediate needs of the industry”.
It means that by the time the 2022 version goes ahead, three years will have passed since Team Ineos’ Chris Lawless and Marianne Vos of CCC Liv won their respective races.
The Tour, which began in 2015 as a legacy event from hosting the Tour de France’s Grand Depart the year before, usually takes place in May. Yorkshire has been one of the worst hit areas in the UK, contributing to the decision by officials to scrap the 2021 event.
A statement on Twitter said: “Unfortunately, the 2021 Tour de Yorkshire will be postponed until 2022. It was a difficult decision to make but given the developing Covid-19 situation, Welcome to Yorkshire and ASO will instead focus on bringing the race back bigger and better than ever in 2022.”
Welcome to Yorkshire’s Chief Executive James Mason is optimistic the popular race will return in 2022.
“During these uncertain times Welcome to Yorkshire need to focus on the immediate needs of the industry without committing both financial and human resources towards any activity or event that we cannot be certain of,” said Mason.
Cycling has become synonymous with Yorkshire and the Tour de Yorkshire has become a firm fixture on the world cycling calendar due to the reception the riders and teams receive in our county.
“Whilst it is very disappointing that we will be bereft of this wonderful race for another year the decision we have made is the right one and perhaps the only one we could make. The uncertainty in front of us meant it was impossible to plan or commit the resource that the race needs."
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