The new date of September 22 also clashes with the International Cycling Union (UCI) Road World Championships.

Additionally, the national event in Anzegem is scheduled to take place three days after the end of the Giro d'Italia Femminile.

It was originally set to go ahead on August 22 and 23, in the window set aside for National Championships by the UCI, but the Belgian Government has banned mass gatherings until September due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Belgium has had more than 55,000 confirmed cases of the virus, resulting in the deaths of in excess of 9,000 people.

The Belgian National Road Race Championships is the latest cycling event to have to move, with the 2020 calendar congested as things stand.

The Belgian Cycling Federation is still looking for new dates for the men's and women's time trials in Koksijde and the under-23 and senior amateur races in Lokeren.

Defending men's road champion Tim Merlier was initially disappointed at his team, Alpecin-Fenix, not being given a wild-card position on the Tour de France, but will now relish having fresh legs for the National Championships unlike seom rivals.

"Hopefully Wout van Aert will still aim for a win on the final stage, and will be recovered even less for the Belgian Championships," Merlier said.

The UCI's new calendar has proved controversial in some quarters, with two of road cycling's Grand Tours - the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España - overlapping, but the UCI says the new calendar obeys a logic which provides maximum opportunities for different types of riders.