SweetSpot Group, organiser of the Women’s Tour, has announced that the upcoming edition of the race scheduled for 7-12 June 2021 will be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
SweetSpot is working with the UCI and British Cycling to re-arrange the Women’s Tour for later in 2021. It has requested alternate race dates of 4-9 October from the sport’s governing body. These are provisional dates, subject to confirmation from the UCI.
The Women’s Tour, which forms a part of the prestigious UCI Women’s WorldTour, starts in Oxfordshire at Bicester and finishes with a stage from Haverhill to Felixstowe in Suffolk. SweetSpot is working with all the regional stakeholders in the 2021 Women’s Tour to accommodate them within the re-arranged race.
SweetSpot will announce full details of the 2021 route in the summer once alternative dates are confirmed.
Race Director Mick Bennett said, “We are obviously disappointed to be postponing the Women’s Tour from June but hope that by aiming to stage the race in October we can give the teams and public something to look forward to at the tail end of the summer.”
British Cycling Head of Sport and Major Events, Jonathan Day, said “We know just how important the Women’s Tour is for our teams and riders, and it’s been fantastic to see the race go from strength to strength over recent years, becoming a mainstay of the British sporting calendar.
“We are working closely with SweetSpot and the UCI to confirm the proposed date change and look forward to welcoming the world’s best riders to the opening stage in Oxfordshire later this year.”
Cllr James Reeder, Suffolk County Council Cabinet Member for Public Health and Prevention, said: “Whilst it is disappointing to hear that the race has been postponed until later in the year, I can completely understand why this decision has been taken by the race organiser SweetSpot.
“The council fully supports their decision given the challenging situation with coronavirus in the UK at present. The health and safety of all communities, competitors and partners involved in a such well-attended public event must be the priority; and we look forward to putting on a fantastic spectacle with SweetSpot and all our partners later in the year.”
The postponement follows the news at the start of February that race organiser SweetSpot is working with Eurosport and GCN to produce live TV coverage of the race for the first time in 2021.
The Women’s Tour continues to look for a headline sponsor for 2021 and beyond. In a release, SweetSpot added… ‘With cycling enjoying a boom in the UK, and hundreds of thousands of new and returning cyclists taking to two wheels, partnership opportunities for brands looking to target a healthy national audience and to be associated with the world’s leading women’s professional cycling race are available at all levels and on a regional level to support individual stages.’
