VF Corporation, organizer of the Colorado Classic, announced that it would cancel the women-only stage race in 2021 due to a coronavirus pandemic, but reiterated that the race would return in 2022.

The pandemic hit the United States, with over 23 million confirmed cases and 385,000 deaths. In Colorado, 5,354 people died from COVID-19, bringing the total number of infected to approximately 370,000.

Chloe Dygert won the inaugural UCI 2.1-ranked Colorado Classic in 2019, and organizers had planned to hold a second event last July, but a spike in COVID-19 cases in Colorado (from about 300 new cases per day to 600) Since October, Colorado has regularly seen new infections in the thousands, and the situation "remains uncertain at best," organizers said. [Ken Gart, president of RPM Events Group, organizers of the Colorado Classic, said, "In 2020, we worked tirelessly for months with state, county, and city organizations, health officials, and sports governing bodies to develop a COVID mitigation plan to ensure the health and safety of everyone." He said.

"Ultimately, the wisest decision was still to cancel the event. The current situation is as uncertain as it was last year, and we do not believe it makes sense, financial or otherwise, to hold the 2021 event and risk another cancellation."

"This is not an easy decision. We know that this race has an important place on the national and international race calendar and we are committed to our goal of making it the best women's race in the world. However, by postponing the event to 2022, we hope that the pandemic will stabilize and we can secure the necessary financial partners to give our event its due recognition and to once again host a game-changing, world-class event, as we did in 2019."

The RPM Events Group made the surprise decision to move men's UCI events and national-level women's races to top-level women-only races in 2019, giving women "unprecedented financial support, innovative live streaming and international exposure packages, longer , more challenging route."

The organization sought to keep the momentum going in 2020 with several webinars and Zwift rides, and intended to keep the cycling world enthralled this year.

"Let me assure you that our commitment to women's cycling is as strong as ever. We continue to believe that the Colorado Classic can evolve into one of the most powerful platforms in women's sport, and we will work to achieve that goal as we set our sights on 2022," Gart said.