Organizers of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race appear to be holding out hope for a women's and men's one-day race scheduled for the last weekend in January, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

"We continue to make plans to host a safe COVID-19 event in the Geelong, Bellarine, and Surf Coast region in January 2021," an event spokesperson responded via email to a Cycling News inquiry on Friday." We are working closely with all parties involved to ensure a safe event next year and will be able to make a decision regarding the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race within the next few weeks."

Meanwhile, despite rumors of cancellation, organizers of the Tour Down Under women's and men's stage races have not commented since Tuesday's press release. In that press release, Hitaf Rasheed, executive director of Event South Australia, said that a decision on the two races, which will be held on January 14-17 and 19-24, respectively, would be announced "within the next week."

She added, "We are also looking at alternative scenarios, such as how to have some form of cycling in South Australia in January if we are unable to host the Santos Tour Down Under and the UCI men's and women's races in January."

A major obstacle for both the Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race is the ability or willingness of top European teams to travel to Australia to compete.

According to Cycling News, when the AIGCP's Team Association surveyed the teams about whether they would travel to Australia and accept a 14-day quarantine upon arrival, most teams said they did not wish to travel. Riders and staff would also likely have to go through quarantine on their return to Europe, another obstacle for the participating teams.

While the number of deaths from the coronavirus rose by 280 in the United Kingdom on Thursday and 1,016 in the United States on Wednesday, Australia was not as severely affected, and in Victoria, where the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race is held, A total of 819 deaths have occurred so far this year, and 20,344 people have been infected with COVID-19.

As a result, Victoria has been the most severely affected, with both the men's and women's stage races of the 2021 Herald Sun Tour (usually held in Victoria in early February) already cancelled.

Many Australian state borders were closed during the pandemic, but some restrictions were recently eased in Victoria's capital Melbourne, allowing pubs, cafes, and restaurants to reopen for business this weekend.

Nationwide, 27,569 coronavirus-positive cases have been reported, with 907 deaths.

South Australia, where the annual Tour Down Under is held in and around the state capital Adelaide, has seen 495 cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the year, with four deaths.

CyclingNews reached out to Tour Down Under for further comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.