The race of the falling leaves comes forward to allow specialists to capitalise on Worlds form; Tour of Beijing to become WorldTour finale
Il Lombardia, as the Giro di Lombardia has become known, will move forward in the calendar next season to September 29th, which will be just a week after the World championship road race. This, explains the International Cycling Union (UCI), allow the one-day specialists to capitalise on the form that they build for the Worlds road race. It does mean though, that the race of the falling leaves may have to change its nickname, with much of the northern Italian foliage still green at the end of September.
While Lombardia has always occupied a mid-October slot, it was previously close the World championships after the Worlds was switched from late August to early October in 1995. In 1998 Swiss rider Oscar Camenzind (then of Mapei-Bricobi) achieved the feat that the UCI seems to want to see repeated, winning the rainbow jersey in Valkenburg, Netherlands, on October 10th and Lombardia on October 16th. With the World championships moving forward slightly to the end of September in recent years, one-day riders have had two or three weeks to hold their form for Lombardia.
Coincidentally, the World championships will be held in the Dutch Limburg region once more, making a repeat of Camenzind’s 1998 feat possible.
The new date for Lombardia also has ramifications for the UCI’s flagship WorldTour series. The Italian race has virtually always occupied the position of the final major race in the calendar; it was the tenth and final race in the World Cup, then the last race in the ProTour, and this year will be the grand finale to the WorldTour.
As Lombardia moves forward in the calendar, the Tour of Beijing will move back a week, giving the UCI’s own controversial new race the honour of being the grand finale of the UCI’s big competition. Virtually none of the top riders in this year’s WorldTour ranking rode in Beijing last week, but the new position in 2012 might see more pressure put on them to attend.
UCI WorldTour calendar 2012
January 17-22: Tour Down Under (Aus)
March 4-11: Paris-Nice (Fra)
March 7-13: Tirreno-Adriatico (Ita)
March 17: Milano-Sanremo (Ita)
March 19-25: Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (Esp)
March 23: E3 Prijs Vlaanderen-Harelbeke (Bel)
March 25: Gent-Wevelgem (Bel)
April 1: Ronde van Vlaanderen/Tour des Flandres (Bel)
April 2-7: Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco (Esp)
April 8: Paris-Roubaix (Fra)
April 15: Amstel Gold Race (Ned)
April 18: La Flèche Wallonne (Bel)
April 22: Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Bel)
April 24-29: Tour de Romandie (Sui)
May 5-27: Giro d'Italia (Ita)
June 3-10: Critérium du Dauphiné (Fra)
June 9-17: Tour de Suisse (Sui)
June 30-July 22: Tour de France (Fra)
July 10-17: Tour de Pologne (Pol)
August 6-12: Eneco Tour (Bel/Ned)
August 14: Clásica Ciclista San Sebastian (Esp)
August 18-September 9: Vuelta a España (Esp)
August 19: Vattenfall Cyclassics (Ger)
August 26: GP Ouest France-Plouay (Fra)
September 7: Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec (Can)
September 9: Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal (Can)
September 29: Il Lombardia (Ita)
October 10-14: Tour of Beijing (Chn)