USA Cycling announced on Wednesday it has been forced to cancel all of the elite national championships for the 2020 season except for December's cyclo-cross championships except for the MTB Marathon, which has been postponed to November.
Current champions will be allowed to wear their national champion's jerseys through the 2021 event. Ruth Winder (Trek-Segafredo) and Alex Howes (EF Pro Cycling) won the elite road races last year in Knoxville, while Amber Neben and Ian Garrison (Deceuninck-Quickstep) won the time trials. Travis McCabe and Emma White won the criterium titles.
"This update comes after months of working through numerous plans and options and is written with disappointment, as we are unfortunately forced to announce the cancellation of multiple National Championships for the 2020 season," the press release stated.
"Throughout this time, we have worked to create alternative dates in the hopes that COVID-19 cases would decrease, sought alternative locations where needed, and looked to modify our events in order to mitigate risk and meet local regulations and requirements.
"As we have gotten closer to decision dates, it has become clear that many of the challenges in conducting safe and fair Nationals are insurmountable. In the end, we do not feel confident that we can ensure the safety of our participants, volunteers, staff, and host communities."
The United States has seen a second spike of COVID-19 cases in some states, with Tennessee - which was due to host the professional road championships - showing a new high number of new cases this week. Florida, Arizona, South Carolina and Texas are among the states struggling to stem the spread of the potentially deadly disease.
However, other states that saw early surges - New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Washington DC - have managed to bring the infection rate back down.
The overall rate of new infections in the US was deemed to be too high for the Council of the European Union to add it to the list of countries whose residents will be allowed to enter for non-essential travel, creating some travel headaches for US pros wishing to return for European racing when it resumes in late July.
USA Cycling said the "challenges of obtaining local permissions and permits, having to heavily modify event formats, and facing financial concerns within both our organization and local organizing committees" led to the decision to cancel the championships.
The Pro, Amateur and Masters Road, Mountain Bike, Elite, Junior and Masters Track and Gran Fondo championships have all been called off.
A decision on the Collegiate events for autumn is still pending.
"We are continuing to work through options for our fall Collegiate events, Marathon MTB, and Cyclocross Nationals and will continue to communicate the status of these events."
