The UCI has published its full 2024 road calendar confirming a few new races, the demise of others, and one race notably missing for next season - the Vuelta a San Juan Internacional.
The ProSeries stage race made a comeback in late January 2023 after the coronavirus pandemic led to the cancellation of the previous two editions, with Remco Evenepoel, Quinn Simmons and Sam Bennett on the start list. However in 2024 the Argentinian race will be held as a local event only on a far lower budget without the usual big-name invited WorldTour teams and riders.
The UCI published the men's and women's 2024 WorldTour calendars in the summer, with race dates slightly modified to facilitate participation in the road events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
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In 2024 the Tour de France Femmes will be separated from the men’s Grand Tour by more than three weeks, running on August 12 to 18, after the Paris Olympic Games, while the men’s Grand Tour will be shifted earlier, from June 29 to July 21, so it ends the week before the Olympics starts.
According to reports in Italy, the Adriatica Ionica Race has not been registered in the 2024 calendar. This year's race was cancelled just 16 hours before it was due to start.
On a brighter note, organisers of the Challenge Mallorca have added races for women to take place in the days before the men's series of races.
The three-race Challenge Vuelta Mallorca will run from January 20-22 in the same format as the men's - a series of one-day races rather than a stage race - including the Trofeo Calvià Femina, Trofeo Palma Femina, and Trofeo Ses Salines Femina, organisers Unisport announced.
Another new race has been added to the Americas calendar, with a UCI 1.2-ranked Gran Premio New York City to be held in conjunction with the Gran Fondo New York City (GFNYC).
Taking place on May 19, the men's race will start on the George Washington Bridge 15 minutes ahead of the gran fondo racers on the same 137km course with 1,900 metres of elevation coming from punchy short climbs.
"Our goal has always been to integrate pros into our mass participation races, similar to what is done in marathon and triathlon," organiser Uli Fluhme told Cyclingnews.
"While we have some pros race our GFNYs, even from WorldTour teams, having a separate pro race start just ahead of the mass participation race is a big step towards bringing both worlds closer together. This format is a world premier and provides the pro cycling fans the opportunity to race the same course on the same day as the pros, just behind them."
The field will be made up of Continental and ProTeams with the goal of becoming a 1.1-ranked event so that some WorldTour teams can participate in the future.
"We’re also working on adding pro races to existing GFNYs around the world where it makes sense from a logistical perspective. For our mass participation GFNY races, we already have closures and police in place so adding a pro race just before the mass participation race is an obvious next step," Uli Fluhme said.
For now, there is only a men's field in place but the organisation hopes to add a women's GP NYC in 2024. Because the race would require additional road closure time, the women's event is pending additional sponsorship.
