Tour of Utah cancels 2020 race

The Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah announced Friday night that the seven-day ProSeries race scheduled for August 3-9 has been canceled due to concerns over the ongoing novel coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic.

"With the best interests of our host communities, riders, cycling fans and partners at heart, the Tour of Utah is focusing on the health and safety of all its participants and has made the difficult decision not to hold its race this August,” said Steve Miller, chairman of the Tour of Utah. “For the past 15 editions, this international cycling event has traveled the scenic byways of Utah, and we will miss gathering communities together to enjoy the race this year.”

The race joins the rest of the cycling community as it goes on hiatus while the world fights the spread of the pandemic. The UCI recently delayed all sanctioned racing until at least June 1, but the Utah race is taking extra precautions and proactively canceling the event. 

The race previously announced host cities for 2020, with planned stops in Herriman City at the Zions Bank Real Academy, dōTERRA headquarters in Pleasant Grove, Provo, Payson, Woodward Park City, Snowbird Resort, Ogden, Canyons Village at Park City Mountain and Park City.

“The Tour of Utah was peaking this year with commitments from 17 teams to race in Utah, including five WorldTour teams, its first-time international designation as a UCI ProSeries event, and a tremendous lineup of communities to host the daily start and finish lines of each stage,” said John Kimball, managing director of the Tour of Utah. “We are hopeful to renew many of these partnerships for 2021.”

Organisers said the race expects to be on the UCI's 2021 schedule when it is announced later this year.

"The Tour of Utah has always been one of our marquee statewide sports events and is one of the most respected races in the cycling world,” said Jeff Robbins, president and CEO of the Utah Sports Commission. “With its international field of riders and worldwide digital and television reach, it is a wonderful showcase of the people and places in our state. We look forward to seeing the race return in 2021.”

Ben Hermans (Israel Start-Up Nation) won the race in 2019, joining past winners Sepp Kuss, Rob Britton, Joe Dombrowski, Lachlan Morton, Tom Danielson, Johann Tschopp and Levi Leipheimer.