The Lancaster Grand Prix will return in 2026, despite it being cancelled this season, the chair of its organising committee has said.
Speaking on Wednesday, Brian Cookson said that there is nobody to blame for the decision to cancel the race this summer and place the event on temporary hiatus.
The race was a stalwart of the British National Road Series, but it was announced on Tuesday that the event will not take place in July as planned. An array of issues were cited as the reasons behind the decision, including logistical difficulties and problems with funding and sponsorship.
In the same announcement, British Cycling revealed that the Tour of the Reservoir would return for 2025. The governing body has also previously committed to getting a south west round of the national road and circuit series up and running later this year.
"They have been very supportive of us, there's no criticism of British Cycling in any of this," Cookson said. "We have got ourselves stuck between a rock and a hard place on a couple of different issues. Looking at other dates is now very, very difficult as there are already events booked in the park. There's theatre in the park, there's weddings, there's all sorts of other stuff going on, so it will be very difficult for us to change the days."
"We don't exist in a vacuum," the former UCI president added. "We've got to respect the local community and their needs as well. But equally what we want to do is organise the best bike race that we possibly can and do it in a positive and sustainable way that builds for the future. It's a bit of a step back, it's a decision taken with a lot of reluctance, but we think it's the wisest thing to do in the circumstances.
"We're not at all giving up the ghost, we're not throwing our hands up and blaming other people, we've just hit something of a temporary hiatus."
Local authority uncertainty
Cookson also explained that a series of uncertainties regarding the structure of local authorities in the race’s home county of Lancashire meant that funding for the event was also unclear.
"Lancashire is in a particularly peculiar position, because there's a kind of restructuring in place, or about to be in place, that's still subject to a fair amount of debate and decisions," he said. "We don't know yet whether there's going to be one county authority with a mayor, or whether there's going to be some sort of three way split of three different local authorities, unitaries, or two level authorities. So that's all making the funding environment very, very complicated."
Cookson acknowledged that the decision to cancel the race would be frustrating for a number of stakeholders, but reiterated that it will come back stronger and in a position to thrive.
"The ambition and the intention is that we come back in 2026, on or about the same dates in July," he said. "We would then have a sportive on the Saturday with a start and finish in the park, and then the main two races on the Sunday. If we can do that then there's a better offer to the sponsors and there's a better outcome for the local authorities.
"We just ask people to understand and be patient and thank them for their support. We missed a year with the pandemic, but that's about it, and we've been going since the first one in 2019. We have found a pretty good permanent place in the calendar and stuck with that, so we will be back."
