Race organiser explains San Remo and Lombardy date changes

Tour of Lombardy 2010

Italian one-day classics Milan-San Remo and Il Lombardia (Tour of Lombardy) have shifted from a Saturday to a Sunday next season due to reasons of road safety, television coverage and the potential for accompanying public rides, organiser RCS Sport said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) issued a statement confirming that the two WorldTour races were to shift dates, although no immediate reason was given for the move by the organisation.

RCS Sport issued a statement on Thursday to explain its decision. The reasons are three-fold: there is less traffic in Italy on a Sunday, making it easier to organise the road closures essential for the races to take place.

The organiser also feels that Sunday is a better day to offer television coverage of bike races, and points out that most of the other major classics take place on a Sunday.

The final point was that RCS Sport wish to offer mass-participation rides on the same day as the races from 2014 onwards, and again Sunday is more of a traditional day for gran fondos.

Swiss star Fabian Cancellara was one of the riders that had expressed some concern over the shift of day for Milan-San Remo as it stretches the number of rest days between it and the preceding Tirreno-Adriatico: "I do not like that milano-Sanremo will change from saturday to sunday.... #justLeaveItHowItWas. Then must be tirreno-adriatco 1day later to," said the rider in his trademark Twitter speak.

RCS replied: "We saw that Fabian Cancellara said in a Tweet that he was worried about not racing for four days between Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-San Remo. We had already considered the problem and Mauro Vegni [course designer] and his team is already working on a situation to find a solution so that there is a race on either Thursday or Friday."

Milan-San Remo will take place on Sunday, March 17 2013, with Il Lombardia taking place on Sunday, October 6 2013.

Related links

UCI WorldTour calendar 2013

UCI grants second division licence to African team, plus international news round-up

Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Nigel Wynn
Former Associate Editor

Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.