The UCI have defended their actions over the change of dates for the TripLondon Classique for 2025, which has led to the organisers saying they’ve been pressured to cancel the WorldTour stage race.
The 2025 WWT calendar, revealed this morning, primarily led to solely minor adjustments in dates and with most races again of their unique locations after shifting in 2024 because of the Paris Olympics.
However, the TripLondon Classique was moved again every week from the weekend of May 23-25 to June 1, with organisers claiming on Friday that this alteration got here with out “session or prior warning”. They added that given main occasions should be deliberate in central London lengthy upfront, that they had no alternative however to cancel the three-day stage race.
Cyclingnews reached out to the UCI for his or her response to the organisers’ resolution and feedback.
In a press release despatched to Cyclingnews, the UCI defended their resolution by arguing that that they had been “actively engaged with the occasion organiser for the reason that starting of the yr to seek out an alternate date.” They added that the choice to cancel the race in 2025 was one which “the UCI regrets”.
The UCI continued by claiming that “the dates Ford TripLondon Classique requested will not be accessible as they conflict with the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas, which is a part of a three-event block of racing in Spain.”
“It needs to be famous that these three Spanish occasions are held consecutively to cut back workforce journey. In addition, a basic precept of the UCI Women’s WorldTour is that no occasions overlap.”
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The UCI then went on to additional justify its resolution over the date change by claiming that it was a knock-on impact from a rescheduling of the National Championships to their normal, pre-2024, calendar slot.
“The requested change of date for the Ford TripLondon Classique is because of the scheduling of National Championships, that are usually held the final full week of June, however have been held one week earlier in 2024 because of the Paris Olympic Games,” the UCI assertion stated.
“This allowed for the Ford TripLondon Classique to happen in May in 2024. For 2025, the National Championships will return to the usual schedule, and occasions on the 2025 UCI International Calendar might want to shift dates accordingly.”
“For the UCI Women’s WorldTour, it needs to be famous that every one occasions besides the Ford TripLondon Classique have accepted their dates.”
In 2023, the TripLondon Classique happened from May 26 to twenty-eight and in 2022, its first version as a stage race, it happened from May 27 to 29. The earlier two years it was cancelled due to the pandemic and earlier than that, it was a one-day Classic, happening in late July and early August.