On Monday with Covid Delta cases soaring in Europe, UCI Schleck Gran Fondo organiser and former pro Fränk Schleck got frank with would-be participants and announced the event was closing registration – a full two months early.
“Many of you already registered for the Schleck Gran Fondo 2021. To be sure that we can hold the event under the current conditions, we must close the registrations for the 25th of September for now. Nevertheless, the situation evolves rapidly in Luxembourg and we may be able to open the event to more participants by the end of the summer.” Fränk Schleck
The 25 September event is the final UCI Gran Fondo World Series and World Championship qualifying race before the planned 2021 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships on 6 October.
After being cancelled in 2020 and already postponed once this year, the event billed as a “Schleck x-perience” in the heart of Europe was planning on hosting 3000 participants, including old and new cycling champions from Luxembourg and beyond. Many amateurs hoping to qualify for the Gran Fondo World Championships were planning on attending after eight European UCI Gran Fondo World Championship qualifying races were cancelled earlier this year.
To help participants train during the pandemic for the real-world Schleck Gran Fondo, Fränk Schleck developed a custom built 42 kilometre Virtual Schleck Gran Fondo training course on the ROUVY virtual training platform. The course is available to all Schleck Gran Fondo participants as well as cyclists throughout the world.
PHOTOS: Schleck Gran Fondo
GRAN FONDO DAILY NEWS 