Tour Down Under cycling race canceled for 2nd year in a row

ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — The scheduled season-opening cycling event on the 2022 men’s WorldTour and the women’s UCI ProTour has been canceled in Australia for the second year in a row.

The Tour Down Under in Adelaide was scheduled for January but organizers said Thursday that international border closures and quarantine requirements due to the COVID-19 pandemic made it too difficult to stage.

“We have fully explored all avenues, but unfortunately in the end it was the border closures and quarantine requirements for more than 400 people that make up the international teams that proved to still be too difficult to overcome,” Events South Australia executive director Hitaf Rasheed said.

The Tour Down Under was first held in 1999. Former Australian professional Simon Gerrans won the race four times in 2006, 2012, 2014 and 2016.

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