2021 Tour Down Under the latest South Australian event to be cancelled due to Coronavirus

The Tour Down Under will not go ahead in January 2021 with organisers blaming uncertainty around international border conditions and quarantine requirements.

The latest South Australian event to be cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic, SA Health and SA Police had both been in talks with organisers to allow international riders to quarantine and continue training, but were unable to reach a suitable compromise.

As a result, Tour Down Under Race Director Stuart O'Grady advised "bringing a bunch of people from Europe to Australia is challenging at the moment.

"Everybody's been doing a great job but to realistically bring 400 people from Europe into South Australia with the current restrictions in place with the quarantining - it's not a stadium event, cycling is out in the community, it's out in the regional areas - I just think it's a little bit too much to ask at the moment."

The Women's Tour Down Under has also been cancelled as well as Cadel’s Great Ocean Road Race in Victoria.

Comprising both a men’s and women’s tour, next year’s The Tour Down Under,  scheduled to run from 14th to 24th January, is a major drawcard for South Australia.

As Events SA Executive Director Hitaf Rasheed told Adelaide’s The Advertiser this week, “(the race) signifies the start of our South Australian summer and festival season and it delivers millions of dollars to our local economy, drives significant media coverage and gives South Australians a sense of pride and happiness.”

Explaining that the event was "on pause" rather than "going away", O'Grady went on to advise that a smaller domestic cycling event is planned in January instead, featuring top international cyclists.

Rasheed said the Tour Down Under would return in 2022, adding “we assure everyone it will return to South Australia and the start of the UCI's world cycling calendars in January 2022, with the full support of the UCI.”