Effects of coronavirus on professional races

[RedheadDane]

They also didn't race the UAE Tour.

MSR and T-A are of the old mandatory WT races. As for SB, it's probably a matter of the difference between withdrawing right from the beginning, and withdrawing with less than a week's notice.

 

[Nirvana]

I'm not arguing the italian authorities are doing everything right. They aren't.
But to think this is only a case of collective hysteria is naive. Hospitals are sending home whoever doesn't show acute symptoms and yet in some areas there are not enough beds for serious cases.

As for the races, I have no idea what they will come up with. The scientific committee's proposal is pretty clear. No sport events should be held if the authorities can't enforce the minimun distance of 1mt between people. There is no way you can enforce this measure over the 200+ km route of a cycling race. So I believe they would need an exemption, which is possible but shouldn't be taken for granted given the situation.

Both the eventual collapse of the health system and the overreaction/hysteria are direct effect of how everything has been handled. At the beginning (before the first two deaths popped up and they "discovered" the original clusters) they were joking about the virus in press conferences and assured wasn't possible for the virus to circulate in Italy while the virus was actually circulating probably for weeks, and that led to hospital not testing anyone assuming was normal influenza so people infected have spreaded the virus even to doctors that became unaware carriers. Then when the original clusters were discovered they shifted from a day to another from the jokes to the ten towns lockdown and closing all activities in the north of Italy and so that generated the collective hysteria, not because was wrong but because of their previous attitude.
After that the icing on the cake, they totally panicked for the economy and they started to cry for a return to the normality and reopened almost everything outside the ten locked towns despite the situation worsening instead of extending the lockdown to at least the whole Lombardia. And from what I'm seeing all they are planning are economic measures plus the blocking of sport events but everything else will be open with only recommendations to people like "don't kiss", "don't shake hands" and "keep one meter between each other".

 

[yaco]

It was always a case by case basis - At some stage team/s would be spooked particularly the events occurring in the Emirates - Some teams/riders will elect not to ride certain races - I wonder if the EF decision was sponsor driven ? As it would look bad for the company's business - Finally,I hope EF are testing all their riders as you can catch this virus anywhere in the world.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Better to be safe than sorry. The south Korean sect leader responsible for most of the cases in that country has apologized on his knees but what good is an apology to the people who have died.

 

[Nirvana]

To be honest, I think Strade Bianche should be cancelled, and I hate saying that as it's easily one of my favourite races of the year (not to mention usually one of the most exciting).

In the area of the race there isn't a single case, the whole province of Siena has only 13 cases all located in a small town on the Monte Amiata that are imported (the local team played in Piemonte and some players were infected). The only race that pass an infected area is Milano-Sanremo.

 

[King Boonen]

In the area of the race there isn't a single case, the whole province of Siena has only 13 cases all located in a small town on the Monte Amiata that are imported (the local team played in Piemonte and some player was infected). The only race that pass an infected area is Milano-Sanremo.

It's not about the race, it's about the people attending and the possibility of spreading the disease beyond the already affected areas. Also, it shouldn't need pointing out that the absence of confirmed diagnosis doesn't prove the absence of the virus.

 

[SafeBet]

Plus, fans from all over the country will attend races like SB and MSR, thus making it more likely for the virus to spread.

 

[Berflamand]

13 (!) WorldTour team doctors have apparently written a letter to RCS asking to cancel Strade Bianche, Tirreno and Milan San Remo:

https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20200304_04875355

I can't see the races being held now as 13 teams are explicitily asking to cancel them.

They are also asking to cancel Paris-Nice if there is no clear plan how to deal with the situation.

 

[King Boonen]

Plus, fans from all over the country will attend races like SB and MSR, thus making it more likely for the virus to spread.

Yes. Teams are obviously concerned about riders and staff but the real issue is the general population who will attend the race. A small outbreak among fans could conceivably spread the disease across several regions of the country and even further afield.

 

[Nirvana]

It's not about the race, it's about the people attending and the possibility of spreading the disease beyond the already affected areas. Also, it shouldn't need pointing out that the absence of confirmed diagnosis doesn't prove the absence of the virus.

People from Lombardia, Veneto and Emilia can't travel to attend sport events in other regions.
Anyway I know that we couldn't be sure of the absence of the virus but we can't block everything where there isn't an infection, even in France where they are a lot more proactive in taking measures the sport minister yesterday said that Paris-Nice is allowed because there aren't cases in the area of the race and doesn't think there will be a lot of people attending (they said not more than 3000).

 

[Red Rick]

Canceling PN now too? Seriously?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Better to be safe than sorry. The south Korean sect leader responsible for most of the cases in that country has apologized on his knees but what good is an apology to the people who have died.

Millions of people get the flu each year and hundreds of thousands die of it. We all have had the flu and we will all have infected others which directly or indirectly will have led to some elderly or immune-compromised individual dying. You can't blame someone for getting a virus and infecting others, for christ's sake, or we would all have to quarantine ourselves as soon as we get a fever or a cough, 'better safe than sorry'.

 

[LaFlorecita]

13 (!) WorldTour team doctors have apparently written a letter to RCS asking to cancel Strade Bianche, Tirreno and Milan San Remo:

https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20200304_04875355

I can't see the races being held now as 13 teams are explicitily asking to cancel them.

They are also asking to cancel Paris-Nice if there is no clear plan how to deal with the situation.

This is absolutely nuts

 

[King Boonen]

People from Lombardia, Veneto and Emilia can't travel to attend sport events in other regions.
Anyway I know that we couldn't be sure of the absence of the virus but we can't block everything where there isn't an infection, even in France where they are a lot more proactive in taking measures the sport minister yesterday said that Paris-Nice is allowed because there aren't cases in the area of the race and doesn't think there will be a lot of people attending (they said not more than 3000).

Without everyone, spectators and those involved with the race, attending being tested prior to the event (the WT circus brings lots of people from lots of places with it) it's impossible to know if anyone is carrying the virus.

No, you can't shut down everything but it is, frankly, very easy to shut down bike racing. Yes, it's rubbish for us, towns who rely on the revenue and the teams/riders etc. but in the grand scheme of things it's pretty irrelevant. If they go ahead, there's an outbreak traced to one of these races, it causes the virus to spread and there are deaths it could well be the end of the whole season (at least until a significant decline).

 

[King Boonen]

Millions of people get the flu each year and hundreds of thousands die of it. We all have had the flu and we will all have infected others which directly or indirectly will have led to some elderly or immune-compromised individual dying. You can't blame someone for getting a virus and infecting others, for christ's sake, or we would all have to quarantine ourselves as soon as we get a fever or a cough, 'better safe than sorry'.

That's pretty much the policy of every place I have ever worked. If you're ill, go home until you're not so as not to infect others. Enforcement is usually poor.

 

[LaFlorecita]

That's pretty much the policy of every place I have ever worked. If you're ill, go home until you're not so as not to infect others. Enforcement is usually poor.

Never in my life have I stayed locked inside my home for days on end because I had some cold or flu symptoms, and I bet 99% of people haven't. So should we all apologize for the deaths of vulnerable people in our society?

 

[Rollthedice]

As soon as EF decided to pull out of the Italian races, there's no turning back. Domino effect.

 

[King Boonen]

Never in my life have I stayed locked inside my home for days on end because I had some cold or flu symptoms, and I bet 99% of people haven't. So should we all apologize for the deaths of vulnerable people in our society?

For being infected with endemic viruses? No. Although if you went to work with the flu and made other people sick you should probably apologise to them.

For being selfish enough to think that a bike race is more important than trying to control the spread of a ,potentially, more serious virus? Probably yes.

 

[Red Rick]

I think it's a slippery slope. Every single crowd is gonna increase spread of minor infectious disease, and I think think the public panic, media coverage and effect on daily life is disproportionate to the effect the disease actually has.

I think there's public health problems way bigger than the coronavirus, and I also think this does not bode well at all for future epidemics.

 

[Red Rick]

For being infected with endemic viruses? No. Although if you went to work with the flu and made other people sick you should probably apologise to them.

For being selfish enough to think that a bike race is more important than trying to control the spread of a ,potentially, more serious virus? Probably yes.

This is a very black and white take imo.

 

[Nirvana]

Without everyone, spectators and those involved with the race, attending being tested prior to the event (the WT circus brings lots of people from lots of places with it) it's impossible to know if anyone is carrying the virus.

No, you can't shut down everything but it is, frankly, very easy to shut down bike racing. Yes, it's rubbish for us, towns who rely on the revenue and the teams/riders etc. but in the grand scheme of things it's pretty irrelevant. If they go ahead, there's an outbreak traced to one of these races, it causes the virus to spread and there are deaths it could well be the end of the whole season (at least until a significant decline).

If it's true the teams wants to block even Paris-Nice it's already an halt to the whole season considering that in the last two days cases have started to pop up also in Belgium, no Italy, no France, no Belgium, no Spain, it's 80% of the calendar.

For me would become absurd if put in this way, at the moment would be reasonable only cancelling Sanremo and maybe Roubaix if the outbreak in Compiegne won't stop in the coming weeks, stopping the season for 3000 cases in Europe of which more than an half are concentrated in Lombardia and more than one third in three region of northern Italy it's ridiculous.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Also, please have a look at this map:
https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2...n_italia_in_tempo_reale-249371656/?refresh_ce

19 cases in Tuscany, that's 5 cases per 1 million inhabitants. Yes, there are most likely more infected people than the numbers show, but also, the reaction is way overblown. But that's been my gripe for the last 2-3 weeks as mass panic ensued.

 

[King Boonen]

This is a very black and white take imo.

If it's true the teams wants to block even Paris-Nice it's already an halt to the whole season considering that in the last two days cases have started to pop up also in Belgium, no Italy, no France, no Belgium, no Spain, it's 80% of the calendar.

For me would become absurd if put in this way, at the moment would be reasonable only cancelling Sanremo and maybe Roubaix if the outbreak in Compiegne won't stop in the coming weeks, stopping the season for 3000 cases in Europe of which more than an half are concentrated in Lombardia and more than one third in three region of northern Italy it's ridiculous.

I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that those arguing that the races should continue do not fall within the suspected high risk group and are unlikely to be in the area when the race happens?

 

[LaFlorecita]

I wish I could fly to Italy for a couple of weeks, should be cheap flights and cheap accommodation right now!

 

[Rollthedice]

Self-isolation is one thing, self-isolation without watching cycling on the telly is a terrifying prospect.