GCN Racing News Show: Should the Classics be moved to the autumn?

This week on the GCN Racing News Show, Dan Lloyd takes a look at the biggest headlines from the past few days, as well providing the latest on the closure of GCN+ and the GCN app.

In the past few days, it has emerged that Rod Ellingworth has left his post as deputy team principal of Ineos Grenadiers and that the 2024 edition of the Mount Ventoux Challenge has been cancelled due to the passage of the Olympic torch through the area, while dsm-firmenich have unveiled a new title sponsor, PostNL.

But the news that caught Dan’s eye was UCI president David Lappartient’s suggestion that the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix could, in theory at least, be moved to October. The two cobbled Monuments are staples of the Spring but Lappartient has been riffing with numerous ideas, pointing out that both races enjoyed successful editions when held in the Autumn during the pandemic.

• Read more: Lappartient suggests October Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders amid calls for calendar reform

Dan greets Lappartient’s comments with a degree of scepticism, given this comes hot on the heels of his “bonkers” suggestion that cyclo-cross riders should be obliged to show up to every round of the World Cup – a UCI series – in order to qualify for the World Championships.

Even so, he, and we, want to hear from you – what do you think of the idea of an October Flanders and Roubaix? And what would the road calendar look like if you designed it from scratch?

Elsewhere in the show, we recap the weekend’s cyclo-cross action, where Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado confirmed she’s back to her best with another Superprestige-World Cup double. The Dutchwoman got the better of Lucinda Brand in Merksplas at the former before seeing off the returning young star Puck Pieterse in Troyes on Sunday. In the men’s field, Joris Nieuwenhuis claimed his first elite European win in Merksplas, before Eli Iserbyt overcame a nightmare start to dispatch Lars van der Haar in Troyes.

Read more:

• Cyclo-cross World Cup: Alvarado outguns Pieterse in Troyes
• Cyclo-cross World Cup: Iserbyt recovers from slow start to win in Troyes

Finally, Dan turns to our own news, following last week’s announcement that GCN+ and the GCN app will close on December 19. There’s information on where you’ll be able to watch live racing in the future, as well as a heartfelt thank you to our subscribers, following the thousands of messages we’ve received in the past week.

“To read the incredible positive general sentiment genuinely brought a tear to my eye and it filled me with pride for what we achieved in a very short space of time,” Dan says. “So thank you so much for all your kind comments. For all of us here, it means the world.”

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