The 2021 Eurométropole Tour was the 80th edition of the

Eurométropole Tour The Circuit Franco-Belge is a single day cycling race held annually in Belgium and France. The race was previously known as the Tour de Wallonie-Picarde in 2011 and as the Tour de l'Eurométropole from 2012 to 2021. From 2005 to 2015 the Tour de ...

and the fifth edition since it became a one day race. It was held on 29 September 2021 as part of the

2021 UCI Europe Tour The 2021 UCI Europe Tour was the 17th season of the UCI Europe Tour. The season began on 24 January 2021 with the Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana 1969 – Gran Premio Valencia and ended on 24 October 2021 with the Ronde van Drenthe. Throughout t ...

and the

2021 UCI ProSeries The 2021 UCI ProSeries is the second season of the UCI ProSeries, the second tier road bicycle racing, road cycling tour, below the UCI World Tour, but above the various regional UCI Continental Circuits. The 2021 season initially consisted of 55 ...

calendars. This edition was the race's first in the

UCI ProSeries The UCI ProSeries is the second tier men's elite road bicycle racer, road cycling tour. It was inaugurated in 2020 UCI ProSeries, 2020. The series is placed below the UCI World Tour, but above the various regional UCI Continental Circuits. Devel ...

; the 2020 edition was expected to feature in the

inaugural In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inau ...

UCI ProSeries but was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The race was originally scheduled for 2 October, but after

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the 'Cycling monument, Monuments' ...

was postponed to 3 October, race organisers decided to reschedule the race in order to attract a more competitive field. The race, which took place in Walloon Belgium near the border with France, featured a hilly route covering . The first of the race saw riders travel west from the start in

La Louvière La Louvière (; ) is a city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Boussoit, Haine-Saint-Paul, Haine-Saint-Pie ...

to the finish city of

Tournai Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...

, traversing one sprint point in

Lessines Lessines (; ; ; ) is a city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium. As of the 2014 census, The municipality's total population was 18,637. The total area is which gi ...

(''Souvenir Criquielion'') and five short but steep hills. Once the race reached Tournai, riders then completed five laps of a circuit around the city, with each lap featuring an ascent of the Col de la Croix Jubaru. Additionally, each passage through the finish line before the end of the race was a sprint point; in order, these were the ''Souvenirs Duquennoy, Weylandt, Demoitié, Rossolini,'' and '' Dubois''. Each of the six ''souvenirs'' was named after a deceased figure in cycling. The first four were professional cyclists: Criquielion and Duquennoy died of illness, while Weylandt and Demoitié were fatally injured in separate racing incidents. Rossolini was an announcer at several cycling events, including the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

, while Dubois was a media reporter.

Teams

12 of the 19

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road bicycle racing, road cycling, the UCI World Tou ...

s, nine UCI ProTeams, and three

UCI Continental The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

teams made up the 24 teams that participated in the race. Five teams, all of which were UCI WorldTeams, each entered six riders instead of a full squad of seven riders; these teams were , , , , and . In total, 163 riders started the race, of which 133 finished. UCI WorldTeams * * * * * * * * * * * * UCI ProTeams * * * * * * * * * UCI Continental Teams * * *

Result

References

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eurométropole Tour, 2021

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...