Organizers of the 2020 Tour de Flanders (changed from early April to October 18 due to the Coronavirus outbreak) have taken measures to make the race as safe as possible, including encouraging spectators to stay home and watch the race on television and prohibiting spectator access to the cobbled climbs and start/finish areas. and other measures were taken to ensure that the race would be as safe as possible.

According to Het Nieuwsblad, the start area in Flanders, where the team presentations will also take place, has been moved from Antwerp's Grootemarkt to the Steenplain, where spectators are not allowed.

For the same reason, the start area for this Sunday's Ghent-Wevelgem has been moved from Grote Markt in Ypres to the Menand Gate, and the Tour of Flanders, Ghent-Wevelgem, and Scheldeprijs (October 17), all of which are organized by the organizer, Flanders Classics Another race, the Brabantse Pijl on Wednesday, will be closed to spectators on climbs and cobbled sections.

"The new starting point is a necessary change. Because we can close it more easily and it will remain logistically and visually attractive for the host city," said Thomas van den Spiegel, CEO of Flanders Classics, according to Het Nieuwsblad on Wednesday.

"It will look different, but we believe it is our duty to create something out of it. But we have to do it without an audience. But there is nothing we can do in a situation where there is no audience.

The Flanders Classic organization encourages people not to watch the races, but to watch them on television, and the websites for each race do not publish information about this year's courses.

"This is our only option to run the tournament so that it is 'corona-proof,'" he said.