The UCI 5Joe Martin stage race, scheduled for March 24-27, has been cancelled for 2025 as organizers are working on funding next year to coordinate the 47th stage race in 2024. 

"After 46 years of amateur stage racing, 21 years on the USA Cycling Professional Calendar and 9 years on the UCI International Calendar, we had to make a very difficult decision to cancel the 2024 event.It's because of the rising cost of producing a multi-day stage race and the sponsorship and funding of limited companies and stakeholders," Race Director Bruce Dunn said in a press release Thursday.

"We are committed to finding future sponsors of the professional UCI stage race and bringing it back bigger and better in 2025. We are planning for 2025 for 14 months, and we will work tirelessly to secure our top tier line-up of sponsors."

Last year, Miguel Angel Lopez (Team Medellin EPM) held the overall men's lead until the fourth and final day of the race, when Riley Sheahan (Denver Disruptors) overtook him with a victory at the Criteria stage in downtown Fayetteville. 

On the women's side, Lauren Stephens (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) won the Stage 2 road race, moved to the leader's jersey and held the second GC title at the event in her career.

The removal of the Men's and women's UCI stage races leaves a big hole in the North American road race calendar, two multi-day events that now remain at only 2.2 levels - the Tour of Gila, 4 May 24-28, and the Tour de Bose, 6 May 12-16.

The UCI race on 1st will include the New Grand Premier New York City on 5/19, the Maryland Cycling Classic on 9/1, the Quebec GP Cyclist on 9/13 and the Montreal GP Cyclist on 2nd day. Of these races, only Gila's tour includes both male and female competitions.

The race began in 1978 as the Fayetteville Spring Classic, with Joe Martin serving as race director for the first 10 years. After Martin died of cancer, the race was renamed in honor of him in 1989. Dan's sporting event management company, All Sports Productions, has run the event since 2003, when the professional category was added to amateur stage races and upgraded to the UCI calendar 10 years later.

This was the 2nd time the event had been cancelled and had been postponed for 2020-1 due to the global pandemic of the coronavirus.

"The Joe Martin Stage Race was our first event and we started our career in event production," said Dan, who produced a long list of Highland Gravel Classics, the Fayetteville Half Marathon and other cycling and running events. He said about the start of all the sports productions that are doing. 

"We have literally brought the world of professional cycling to Arkansas for over two decades and the road to events such as the Olympics, World Championships, World Tour Teams and Tour de France includes Joe Martin's stage races.

In the long history of the Joe Martin stage race, some of the overall winners include Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) when they raced for Axeon Hagens Berman and Chloédygert (Canyon-SRAM) in 2016.