Bucks County Classic canceled

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The organisers of the UCI 1.2-ranked Bucks County Classic announced on Sunday that the race, which wa scheduled for September 8, will not be held this year after the organisation was unable to obtain permits for the road closures. The Thompson Criterium in Doylestown will still be held the next day, but the organisers will no longer attempt to hold the road race.

"We had all of the funding in place for the road race," Race Director John Eustice said in a press release, "But the area has become so deluged with special events since we last held the race there in 2014, that the communities simply couldn't absorb another and we couldn't get a permit. It's understandable."

The cancelation leaves the USA with just one UCI-ranked one-day race, the Winston Salem Cycling Classic, and ends an era of major single day Classics in Pennsylvania.

The Bucks County Classic began as the Univest Grand Prix in Souderton, Pennsylvania, running from 1999 to 2011 before the race shifted to Bucks County from 2012-2014. During 2015 and 2016 the race was held in Reading, Pennsylvania and Berks County, where the last edition was won by Oscar Clark.

The race was not organised in 2017 because of logistic and financial difficulties.

Pennsylvania used to be a hotbed for professional racing, with the Philadelphia International Cycling Classic part of a 'triple crown' of racing together with events in Lancaster and Reading. The event in Philadelphia ran from 1985 to 2016, while Lancaster ran from 1992 to 2008.

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