The 2020 Giro d’Italia has been postponed
Giro d’Italia organizers RCS Sport have announced that the 2020 edition of the race, initially set to start on May 9, has been postponed.
The news that the event as a whole would not take place on the previously planned dates came on Friday following an announcement that the opening stages in Hungary would be cancelled after the government there declared a national emergency, making major sporting events impossible.
“RCS Sport, having taken note of the international and national situation, announces that the date of the 2020 Giro d’Italia is thereby postponed,” read a statement from organizers.
While the coronavirus outbreak’s presence in Hungary is still relatively new, with the first cases only announced in the first few days of March, the coronavirus situation in Italy has led to a nationwide lockdown that will extend at least until at least April 3, with the count of cases in the country now over 10,000. According to RCS, no decision on the exact details of rescheduling the Giro will come until after that time.
“The new date will be announced no earlier than 3 April when the provisions of the D.P.C.M. (Decreto del Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri della Repubblica Italiana – Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic) of 4 March 2020 will end, and only after having consulted with the appropriate representatives of the Italian Government, local and territorial authorities and Italian and international sports institutions,” said the RCS via the statement.
Several races, including Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo, had already been called off as Italy deals with rapidly escalating numbers of infections and deaths, while Thursday and Friday have seen a string of races called off all over Europe.
Earlier this week, as concerns over the possible status of cycling’s Grand Tours began to mount, UCI President David Lappartient said that it “would be a disaster for our sport of course if we can’t have the Giro d’Italia or the Tour de France.”
More to follow…
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