Coronavirus: Cookson suggests 2020 Grand Tours be reduced to two weeks

Egan Bernal rides on the Champs Elysees at the 2019 Tour de France
Egan Bernal rides on the Champs-Elysees at the 2019 Tour de France (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Former UCI President Brian Cookson has suggested reducing the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España to two weeks to help create a new post-coronavirus race calendar that will allow all the major races to take place in the second half of the season. 

Over 100 races have so far been postponed, with others cancelled. The Giro d'Italia will not be held in May and all the men's and women's Spring Classics scheduled for April are now trying to understand when they will be held. The race calendars have become a giant puzzle, for the UCI, race organisers, riders and teams, with the postponed races trying to fit in with the already packed calendar in the second half of the year.

Stephen Farrand
Head of News

Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.