The number of February races postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grow, with only the Etoile de Besseges in France remaining next week.

The 2. Pro 5-day stage race, won last year by Tadey Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), was scheduled to take place next week from February 3-7.

However, the Valencia region currently has the worst COVID-19 infection rate in all of Spain, forcing race organizers to put public health first and postpone the race six days before the start.

The Vuelta CV Feminas, a one-day race that the same organizers will hold on the same route as the final stage of the men's Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, was postponed from February.

The only remaining race on the Spanish calendar for February is the one-day race at Clasica de Almeria on February 14.

"The reason for this decision is the current sanitary situation brought about by COVID-19. The health of everyone must take precedence over sport," the race organizers said in a brief announcement, hoping to secure a new date, possibly in May.

With many other races lost, the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana was scheduled to have a star-studded field. Egan Bernal and Tao Geoghegan Hart were scheduled to make their season debuts in Ineos Grenadier, while Movistar was expected to send Enric Mas, three-time champion Alejandro Valverde, and Marc Soler. Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo), Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R), Caleb Yuan (Lotto Soudal), and Simon Yates (Bike Exchange) also made the provisional start list.

As of Wednesday morning, organizers were still sending accreditation requirements to journalists and seemed to think the race could go on. Teams were also booking flights and testing PCR COVID-19.

However, the pandemic continues to spread in Spain, and on Tuesday new cases in Valencia reached a very high rate of more than 1,600 per 100,000 people in two weeks, and the entire region is now effectively on lockdown, making it impossible to hold the race.

Although the numbers dropped slightly on Wednesday, they remain by far the highest of any Spanish province. Earlier this week, the EU also proposed maximum restrictions on non-essential travel for countries where the average number of new infections over a two-week period exceeds 500 per 100,000 people, or one-third of the current total in Valencia province.

And last week, at the Clasica Comunitat Valenciana, a 1.2 km one-day race held in the region, the entire race distance was shortened by 70 km after the Valencia city authorities informed organizers that the pandemic made it impossible to finish in the center of the region's capital.