The race was originally scheduled on 5 April 2020, serving as the 14th event of the 2020 UCI World Tour, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic[4] On 17 March 2020 the organisers announced the race would not run on the planned date; on 5 May it was rescheduled for 18 October. The men's event was slightly reduced in distance, because of the unprecedented end-of-season slot and in order to deal with the intense October campaign.[2]