The men’s and women’s editions of the Herald Sun Tour stage race in Australia have both been cancelled for 2022, with the next edition pushed back until 2023.
The news follows the announcement made by the Tour Down Under to scale back their WorldTour ambitions for a second straight year due to COVID-19 restrictions and once again hold smaller, regional events next January.
This will be the second year running that the Herald Sun Tour races have been cancelled after they were pulled from the calendar in 2021.
The Herald Sun Tour is one of the oldest stage races on the Australian road calendar, with its roots dating back to the first edition in 1952. Both the men’s and women’s races typically follow on from the Tour Down Under and take place in February.
Despite plans for the Australia to ease some international travel in the next few months, the race organisers at the Herald Sun Tour have made the difficult decision to pull their 2022 races from the racing calendar on the grounds of public health. Unlike in Europe and the United States, restrictions of inter-border travel in Australia are unpredictable and restrictive due to cases of COVID-19.
"We are proud of our history as the country's oldest cycling stage race, however the unpredictability that COVID-19 brings to our event presents too many challenges for us to proceed next year. In particular, the quarantine restrictions that come with Covid made it very difficult to attract the best international riders," said Jayco Herald Sun Tour Chairman Tom Salom.
"We have not taken this decision lightly, and our team will continue to examine all possibilities in a bid to resume racing in 2023. We thank all government and industry stakeholders, sponsors, teams, riders, officials and fans for their loyal and ongoing support of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour and Women’s Herald Sun Tour, and we look forward to racing down a street near you in 2023."
Jai Hindley won the last held men’s Herald Sun Tour in 2020. Other previous winners of the men's race include Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins, Simon Gerrans, Baden Cooke, Udo Bolts, Adri van der Poel, and John Trevorrow.
