This year’s Vuelta a Espana is to begin in the Basque Country after canceling its planned start in the Netherlands, the organizers of one of cycling’s Grand Tours announced on Wednesday.
The Vuelta a Espana was scheduled to begin on Aug. 14 in Utrecht, Netherlands, and finish on Sept. 6 in Madrid, but the race has been postponed to a date as yet unknown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It would also now depart from Irun, Spain, and include 18 stages, three less than originally scheduled after the removal of the Dutch legs.
A statement from the race organizers said that the decision has been “not to replace the first three stages, which were going to cover the Dutch regions of Utrecht and North Brabant before starting the Spanish round with the Irun-Alto de Arrasate stage [in Eibar].”
“This has been communicated to the UCI so the body responsible for the regulation of cycling can work on the reorganization of the calendar with a 20-day tour and not 23 as initially planned,” it added.
It would be the first time that the Vuelta a Espana features fewer than 21 stages since a 19-stage race was completed in 1985.
“It is obvious that when you design the race, you do not expect not to have to make changes of this magnitude, but we have to be sensitive with the current situation and we have to assume that it is very difficult to substitute an official start at this point for all the planning and logistics involved,” Vuelta a Espana director Javier Guillen said.
The organizers had earlier issued a news release saying that they had been “forced” to take out the start in the Netherlands.
“La Vuelta 20 will not take off from the Netherlands,” they said.
“Due to the exceptional situation caused by the COVID-19 crisis, the organizing committee of La Vuelta Holanda has been forced to cancel the official departure of the race from the Dutch regions of Utrecht and North Brabant,” they added.
Next year’s start has already been allocated to Burgos in northern Spain.
Organizers said that they hoped to start the 2022 race in the Netherlands.
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