Forget the misleading headlines on other sites: the World Championships are not canceled. At least, not yet.
The UCI has in fact shared that the Swiss Federal Council has decided to maintain its ban on events of over 1,000 people, meaning that the UCI and the organising committee of the Aigle-Martigny 2020 UCI Road World Championships have decided not to host the event in Aigle and Martigny.
“Given the sporting importance of the UCI Road World Championships for cycling, the UCI would like to clarify that it will work towards finding an alternative project to ensure the 2020 edition of the event can take place, with the priority being in Europe and at the dates initially scheduled.”
Whether that is possible is another matter, but for now it’s the location, not the event, that’s canceled. Look for an update one way or the other by September 1st.
The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) takes note of the Swiss Federal Council’s decision – linked to the current Covid-19 pandemic – to maintain, until 30 September 2020, the ban on events uniting more than 1000 people.
Given this decision, the organising committee of the Aigle-Martigny 2020 UCI Road World Championships and the political authorities of the cantons concerned have sadly estimated that the conditions could no longer be met to host the event scheduled to take place in Aigle (Vaud) and Martigny (Valais).
The UCI therefore acknowledges that the 2020 UCI Road World Championships will not take place in Aigle-Martigny. It would like to sincerely thank the organisers, cities and cantons as well as the Swiss Confederation, partners and volunteers for their work over the last months during this extremely difficult international health crisis that we are all going through.
Our Federation, which was greatly looking forward to welcoming the world’s best riders to “its” home, close to its headquarters and its training centre in Aigle, shares the disappointment of the athletes, national teams, organisers and everyone implicated in this exceptional project.
Given the sporting importance of the UCI Road World Championships for cycling, the UCI would like to clarify that it will work towards finding an alternative project to ensure the 2020 edition of the event can take place, with the priority being in Europe and at the dates initially scheduled. It could include all or some of the planned races. The UCI will look for a host city that would be able to provide a route as challenging as that in Aigle-Martigny and which would therefore suit the same type of riders who had initially planned to participate in Switzerland.
Conscious that time is of the essence for the athletes, the National Federations and all implicated parties, the UCI will communicate more information as soon as possible and will take a final decision by 1st September at the latest.