Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol, which was supposed to be a five-stage race, has now been reduced to a hastily arranged 4.9km TT after the planned stages this weekend had to be scrapped.
Saturday's and Sunday's planned racing went the same way as the stages that had been planned for Wednesday and Thursday; scuppered because of farmer protests led to policing shortages. And even the road stage that was initially due to take place today had to be shelved and replaced with a short TT.
“The organisation of the 70th edition of the Ruta del Sol Vuelta Ciclista Andalucía announces that it is forced to suspend the Saturday and Sunday stages due to extra-sports events that are happening in Andalusia,” said a statement from the race organisers just before today's TT was due to start.
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“After endless negotiations, despite having all the permits and meeting the requirements of the regulations, the government authorities have not been able to guarantee the assistance of the necessary law enforcement agencies to organise the event and to keep all participants safe for the next two stages.
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"Given this abnormal situation, over which our organisation has no influence, only the time trial planned for next Friday in the city of Alcaudete has not been cancelled.”
The opening two stages on Wednesday and Thursday were cancelled because the police resources required to ensure safety on the race were redeployed to help police farmers' protests.
However, three stages were still planned for today and the weekend, with those three days of action due to start today on what should have been the third day of action, with a short 4.9km TT in Jaenense.
The TT replaced the original 161km stage 3, meaning even before today the riders had effectively denied the three days of hard racing that they had been expecting to use to bolster their early season condition.
Saturday’s stage had been moved onto a circuit Lucena, finishing on the Alto de Nuestra Señora de Araceli. The final stage on Sunday was planned as the original last stage. However, the race will now only consist of today's TT after the stages tomorrow and on Sunday had to be cancelled.
