Tour de France organizers confirm new race schedule

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The world’s largest cycling race has announced the new dates. Tour de France organizers confirmed that they will be starting the race on August 29, 2020, and will end on September 20.

After weeks of deliberation of finalizing the new schedule, organizers then followed up their decision that the routes will still be the same, and nothing will be changed.

Moved three months after the originally slated schedule, which was on April 15, organizers chose the new dates to give all riders enough conditioning time.

According to Christian Prudhomme, Tour’s general director, the riders will need at least two months after the quarantine will be lifted to enable themselves to get back in shape for the race.

Following their general director’s advice, tourney organizers added an extra month not only for the players’ added preparatory time but also as a part of their safety measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We wanted to be as far away from the pandemic as possible. The president put a July 14 date on public gatherings, but it seemed more reasonable to us to allow the riders time to get into peak condition,” Prudhomme said.

While the dates have changed, the original Tour route which will start in Nice and will end in Paris will still be the same.