African cycling event returns to the UCI Gran Fondo World Championship Series in 2020

The Granfondo Casablanca will be the first African event on the Gran Fondo World Series calendar for four years

The UCI announced recently that the new African qualifier event will take place in Casablanca, Morocco, on February 23. It will start and finish in the city centre and follow the coastline for a flat and fast course.

The cycling body stated further that the world series would include all of the continents, with 10 new events and in total, it will comprise 27 qualifying events in 2019 and 2020.

The top 20% will qualify for the 2020 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships in Vancouver, Canada, from September 9 to 13.

The new season kicked off with the RBC GranFondo Whistler in Vancouver and Whistler, which took place a week after this year’s UCI Gran Fondo World Championships in Poznan, Poland.

The Coast to Coast, held in Costa Rica is a new event as is Around Samcheok in the Republic of Korea, while Turkey will host a Granfondo in Canakkale: the UCI Gran Fondo Troy.

Granfondo Moscow also joins the UCI Gran Fondo World Series for the first time.

The Granfondo Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be held on the same course where the battle for the rainbow jerseys will take place in 2021.

The Granfondo Dnipro Race in the Ukraine will be another new event, while Villars-sur-Ollon in the Swiss Alps will host the new Granfondo Suisse.

Riders from eastern Canada and the north-eastern US regions will have a new destination to qualify. La Classique des Appalaches in Victoriaville, Québec, will also host the national masters champs in one combined event.

A Gran Fondo is a type of long-distance ride of at least 120 kms and originated in Italy in 1970 and roughly translates to “Big Ride”.

The 2020 UCI Gran Fondo World Series Calendar

February 23: UCI Granfondo Casablanca – Casablanca, Morocco
March 14-15: Bathurst Cycling Classic – Bathurst, Australia
March 27-29: Cyprus Granfondo – Pafos, Cyprus
March 27-29: Tour de Bintan – Bintan, Indonesia
April 5: Tour de Brisbane – Brisbane, Australia
April 11-12: Around Samcheok – Sam Cheok City, Republic of Korea
April 26: UCI Gran Fondo Troy – Canakkale, Turkey
May 16: Schleck Granfondo – Mondorf Les Bains, Luxembourg
May 16-17: GF Rio de Janeiro – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
May 16-17: Cheaha Challenge Granfondo – Jacksonville, Alabama, US
May 22-24: Greek Granfondo – Macedonia, Greece
May 23-24: Granfondo Moscow – Moscow, Russia
May 30-31: Granfondo Banja Luka – Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina
June 5-7: UCI GF San Luis Potosi – San Luis Potosi, Mexico
June 6-7: Tour of Cambridgeshire – Peterborough, Great Britain
June 12-14: Maraton Franja – Ljubljana, Slovenia
June 20-21: Gran Fondo Dnipro Race – Dnipro, Ukraine
June 26-28: Granfondo Suisse – Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland
July 2-4: Classique des Appalaches – Victoriaville, Canada
July 5: Granfondo Ezaro – Ezaro, Spain
July 10-11: Utah Gran Fondo – Cache Valley, Utah, USA
July 10-12: La leggendaria Charly Gaul – Trento, Italy
July 11-12: Niseko Classic – Niseko, Japan
September 9-12: UCI Gran Fondo WCH – Vancouver/Whistler, Canada