Participants ride on the cobblestones during the 115th edition of the Paris-Roubaix one-day classic cycling race, between Compiegne and Roubaix on April 9, 2017.PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images
The Paris-Roubaix cycling race has been postponed until October because of the coronavirus pandemic, the International Cycling Union said Thursday.
The race had been scheduled for April 11 but can’t go ahead as planned because of a surge in new infections in France. The French government has introduced new nationwide measures that include closing schools for at least three weeks and putting in place a month-long domestic travel ban.
The UCI said the men’s race will now take place on Oct. 3, a day after the women’s event.
“For the UCI and the cycling community, it was very important that both races could take place in 2021, and I am delighted that new dates suitable for all parties have been found,” UCI president David Lappartient said.
Paris-Roubaix is known as the Queen of the Classics because it is the most prestigious of the five races, otherwise known as “monuments” of cycling. The iconic one-day race over long stretches of cobbled paths and roads was cancelled last year because of the pandemic.