Happy New Year. Here’s to another lap around the sun, and with it the pro cycling calendar for 2021, free to download for your diary or phone. It’s packed with racing… but already some events have gone and more might follow.
All of the major UCI men’s and women’s pro races around the world are included. Some races might move dates and sadly others might vanish too. You can browse the calendar above and if you want the ical file for your phone or desktop diary it’s here:
If you want tech support on how to incorporate this iCal into your diary or phone, or an explainer on the UCI labels like 1.UWT or 2.Pro, see the permanent calendar page at inrng.com/calendar.
Running a calendar last year was harder work with many deletions and postponements and if you subscribe to the calendar then check the settings on your device to ensure changes can be pushed out daily or weekly so you carry around an up-to-date version.
2021 continues where 2020 left off as we’ve already seen the Tour Down Under, Herald Sun Tour, Tour Colombia 2.1 and other races binned… and there’s a strong chance the Vuelta San Juan could be next. Fingers crossed for the bedrock of European races but large national Tours are likely to have large, national political support while sadly local events are dropped. But the story should be one of improvement.
If you spot your local race has gone but it’s still on a calendar here please send in an email to help out fellow readers.
Thanks for another year
That has brightened up the day, the thought of some races to look forward too! Here’s to a safer 2021! Thank you INRNG.
Been watching the America’s Cup yacht racing from Auckland. Prompts the thought: Are there any races in NZ that could get an uplift?
[BTW if you havent yet seen the latest generation of hydrofoiling monohulls in action, it’s well worth a look. ]
Beyond the guest appearance of George Bennett joining the local amateurs at the New Zealand Cycle Classic (a four day 2.2 race) and Gravel and Tar (a 1.2 ranked Faux Bro Leon) the answer is no.
If anything, these class 2 races will have weaker fields than usual as they won’t have the usual crowd of amateur/semi-pro teams from Australia and South-East Asia that usually contribute a large part of the entry list. The Australian teams will be contesting the TDU’s domestic replacement race, and the Asian teams won’t be able to travel.
NZ has exactly the same issues with bringing in cycling’s travelling circus of hundreds as Australia does. If pro teams were interested in doing that, they would have stuck with the established pro races in Australia.
It would be great if pro racing were to return to NZ by way of bolting on an additional race to the Australian swing of the calendar, but I can’t see that being possible until at least 2023.