Canadian women's UCI races cancelled

The women's UCI calendar in North America was devastated today by the cancellation of three of only five races sanctioned by the international body. The Canadian Cycling Association announced today that the Montréal Women’s World Cup (May 29th, 2010), the Tour de Grand Montréal (May 31st – June 3rd, 2010) and the Tour de PEI (June 6th-10th, 2010) will be canceled after the organizer retired.

The races formed the bulk of the UCI races in North America, with the only other road race being the Liberty Classic in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the new La visite chrono de Gatineau in June.

The CCA said in a statement that "an alternative UCI women's road event and date is under consideration".

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The Montréal Women's World Cup ran for 12 years, and has been the only Women's World Cup in North America in recent years. The Tour de Grand Montréal ran for 8 years and, emerged after the demise of the HP Women's Challenge to become the largest women's UCI stage race event in North America. The Tour de PEI was relatively new, running only three years.

The organiser, Daniel Manibal, had commented to Canadian Cyclist last month that sponsorship had been increasingly difficult to come by with the addition of the men's ProTour events to the Canadian calendar.

Last year, the World Cup was won by Briton Emma Pooley, who escaped in the first lap and rode solo to the victory for over 100km. The Grand Tour du Montréal was won by Dutch rider Kirsten Wild, while the Tour de PEI was won by Canadian Tara Whitten.

The CCA included a thank you to Manibal "and his organization team for their dedication to Women's cycling over the years. The sport is indebted to them for their hard work and support to make these events well known around the world".