Tour Down Under cancelled for second year running

Event organisers for the Tour Down Under have announced next year’s race has been cancelled due to the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, organisers said international border closures, and quarantine requirements for hundreds of riders from visiting teams, meant the 2021 event could not go ahead.

The cancelled event includes the men’s UCI World Tour and the women’s UCI Pro Tour races.

“[The] Tour Down Under is a much-loved event on the world cycling and Australian sporting calendar and an important economic driver for South Australia,” Events SA executive director Hitaf Rasheed said.

“We have fully explored all avenues.

It is the second consecutive year the race has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The SA government had earlier expressed optimism about finding a solution that would enable the 2021 race to go ahead.

“We’re doing all we can to work with organisers to get the appropriate frameworks in place to get it over the line,” frontbencher David Speirs said on Saturday.

But SA Premier Steven Marshall said the event would be replaced with a domestic cycling festival, as per this year.

“Although international major events continue to be challenging, we will celebrate cycling in January 2022 in the best way we know how and welcome visitors to Adelaide once again to kick off the new year,” he said.

Mr Marshall said the tour would be replaced by the Festival of Cycling, which will run from January 21 to 29 and will feature a variety of cycling events, including track, BMX, mountain biking and paracycling.

Organisers said more information, including race routes, about the event would be revealed in coming weeks.

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