Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
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2019 Tour de France | 2019 Giro d'Italia
None are more unjust in their judgments of others than those who have a high opinion of themselves. - Charles Spurgeon
Upcoming racing:
- April 1 - 4:
Giro di Sicilia - April 1:
Dwars door Vlaanderen - April 3:
Route Adélie de Vitré - April 4:
GP Miguel Indurain - April 4:
Volta Limburg Classic
Latest completed racing:
- March 23-29:
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya - March 29:
Gent-Wevelgem - March 29:
Cholet-Pays de Loire - March 28:
Classic Loire Atlantique - March 27:
E3 BinckBank Classic - March 25:
Driedaagse Brugge De Panne - March 21:
Milano-San Remo - March 20:
Brendene Koksijde Classic
Tokyo Olympics rescheduled for July to August 2021 due to Coronavirus
CNN's Bleacher Report posted this update:
The International Olympic Committee has earmarked the date of July 23, 2021, for the Tokyo Olympics to begin after being postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday, the International Olympic Committee, International Paralympic Committee, Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee and Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced the Games will take place from July 23-Aug. 8 next year. The announcement also noted the Paralympic Games will take place from Aug. 24-Sept. 5 of 2021.
The 2020 Olympics were originally scheduled to take place from July 24-Aug. 9 in Japan's capital city. Following a recommendation from Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, the IOC announced on March 24 the event would be postponed to a date beyond 2020 but no later than the summer of 2021.
Yoshiro Mori, Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee president, ruled out the spring of 2021 as a possible new time frame.
You can read the entire story here.
Rescheduled Olympics conflict with 2021 Tour de France dates
The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to start July 21, 2021. Plans are for Tour stage one, a 13 kilometer individual time trial on the streets of Copenhagen, Denmark, to be run June 25, four days after the Olympics have commenced.
As the Tour did for the originally scheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Tour will surely start earlier to accommodate the Olympics.
We still don't know if the 2020 Tour will be able to honor its June 27 planned start date. The organizer plans to announce its decision sometime in May. It looks like the choices, besides a simple cancellation, are to run the race as usual (unlikely, I believe), fight with the other race organizers for a spot later in the year, or running it while forbidding spectators crowd together.
What's the Chinese curse? May you live in interesting times. These times are certainly more interesting than any of us could ever want.
Lotto-Soudal's Alana Castrique: "I live a bit like a pro during this period."
The team posted this:
During these difficult times Alana Castrique, double 2019 Belgian champion U23 (time trial and road race) keeps up her morale. “For the moment, being able to live like a pro motivates me. I get up, go for a ride and then I have time to rest and work for school, which is very complicated in normal times.“ Alana Castrique says.
For the rider from Ploegsteert who will turn 21 this year, last season was more than successful with two Belgian titles. This year she wants to defend these titles. But the most difficult is knowing if the championships will take place and when they will take place. "If the Belgian championships time trial, initially planned on 1 May, will take place end June, this will be a problem for me because I will have my exams. I will have to postpone the exams and find the right balance between training and studying. The Belgian championships are my objectives and I will be very disappointed if they are postponed of cancelled."
Alana is studying physiotherapy which is not easy to combine with top sport. Since she cannot go to school for the moment, she follows her lessons online in the afternoon after training.
For Alana, not being able to race means reviewing the basis namely a long ride in the morning and reinforcing the muscles and stabilization exercises in the afternoon. "I am lucky my uncle, who lives 100 meters from my house, has a fitness room. It is very practical in times like these when all the gyms are closed."
Her days are well filled. From time to time she also puts on her sport shoes to go for a run of for a walk so she stays in shape and doesn’t get bored in this complicated period for all of us.
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