Next year's schedule sees all the races back on one calendar and some shake-ups in August
The calendar for the new look UCI WorldTour was unveiled earlier this week. The result? All of the major races, one day, one week, and three week Grand Tours are all back on the same calendar.
The first event of the year will continue to be the Tour Down Under in January, from there, it's nine months until the final event of the 2011 season, the traditional season finale, the Giro di Lombardia.
Last year's Historical calendar now integrates with the WorldTour, which brings the three Grand Tours, Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico, Milano-Sanremo, Fleche Wallonne, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and the Giro di Lomardia into the fold.
Most everything is the same as it has always been; the flow of the year is the same for all the races until August. August gets a major shake up for 2011 with all of the August calendar's races either moving forward or backward. and August gets a major shake up. The Eneco Tour will move forward a week to the 8-14 of August instead of its previous 17-24 of August spot, while the GP Plouay will move back a week, from the 22nd of August, to the 28th. The biggest mover on the calendar will be the Vattenfall Cyclassics, which is delayed two weeks and will be held August 21st.
The move two weeks back on the calendar combined with the Vuelta scooting forward a week means an overlap with Hamburg's classic and the Vuelta a Espana. That will likely mean a different look for the Vattenfall Cyclassics, since most every sprinter/all arounder who fancies a chance in Copenhagen at next September's World Championships will be headed to Spain as preparation for two shots at the Rainbow Jersey on the 21st of September (time trial) and the 25th (road race).
There was talk that the Tour de Suisse could possibly move from its traditional Tour de France preparation race slot to an August, World Championships preparation, spot on the calendar, but that doesn't seem to be the case in 2011, as it's still firmly entrenched in the middle of June.
18-23 January: Tour Down Under
06-13 March: Paris-Nice **
09-15 March: Tirreno-Adriatico **
19 March: Milano-Sanremo **
21-27 March: Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
27 March: Gent-Wevelgem
03 April: Ronde van Vlaanderen
04-09 April: Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco
10 April: Paris-Roubaix **
17 April: Amstel Gold Race
20 April: La Fleche Wallonne **
24 April: Liege-Bastogne-Liege **
26-01 May: Tour de Romandie
07-29 May: Giro d'Italia **
05-12 June: Criterium du Dauphine Libere
11-19 June: Tour de Suisse
02-24 July: Tour de France **
30 July: Clasica San Sebastian
31-06 August: Tour de Pologne
08-14 August: Eneco Tour
20-11 September: Vuelta a Espana **
21 August: Vattenfall Cyclassics
28 August: GP Ouest France-Plouay
09 September: GP Cycliste de Quebec
11 September: GP Cycliste de Montreal
15 October: Giro di Lombardia **
** Historical calendar events that have been integrated