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Effects of coronavirus on professional races

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Cycling is actually in a rather unique position vis a vis coronavirus; it's sort of a traveling circus where illness can spread very fast among the teams. And unlike other sports, we actually have cases of coronavirus within the sport. What team is going to risk a UAE tour type of situation, having highly paid riders stuck in a hotel rather than training?

Add into this discarded bottles, clothing etc. being collected by the crowd, kept or passed back and so on. Compared to many other sporting events the risks are much higher.
 
I suppose one of the main concerns of the teams who are pulling out is the possibility of infected riders having decreased lung function in short/medium/long term. Obviously any decrease, even 1%, would be a big problem for a pro cyclist and with this being a new virus nobody can be certain what the long term effects might be. Initially I was surprised when it was reported that the infected UAE Tour riders were in hospital (I'm assuming they are not seriously ill) but I suppose it makes sense to treat athletes differently to the general public.
 
I suppose one of the main concerns of the teams who are pulling out is the possibility of infected riders having decreased lung function in short/medium/long term. Obviously any decrease, even 1%, would be a big problem for a pro cyclist and with this being a new virus nobody can be certain what the long term effects might be. Initially I was surprised when it was reported that the infected UAE Tour riders were in hospital (I'm assuming they are not seriously ill) but I suppose it makes sense to treat athletes differently to the general public.

Actually, lung capacity is far from the primary limiting factor for endurance athletes.
 
To me, the effects of teams' withdrawals seem bigger than the cancelations of races.

Quote from E3

"The E3 takes place the week after Milan-San Remo," Coussens told Het Laatste Nieuws . “The riders are already staying in hotels with us on Monday. What if someone in Italy is found to be infected and the entire hotel is quarantined? Then all matches after San Remo are in danger. "

“Now heading to Italy is when people steer straight into the hearth while it is burning. That is asking for a corona infection. And what kind of participants is there at the start with us? We cannot insure ourselves against that, do we? We collect money from sponsors and we organize a major VIP event. How that should be done, we will discuss that next week. "
 
Quite.

It’s simply trying to delay it until a vaccine/antiviral drugs have been created. This would take some of the pressure off the medical infrastructure.
A bit pedantic, but it's not about the creation of antivirals, but more about determining which ones work, in which dose and how well they're tolerated. There's plenty of drugs that could help but given it's a virus that isn't common in humans they're behind on testing as per frigging usual.
 
A bit pedantic, but it's not about the creation of antivirals, but more about determining which ones work, in which dose and how well they're tolerated. There's plenty of drugs that could help but given it's a virus that isn't common in humans they're behind on testing as per frigging usual.
The semantics don’t really matter Rick, until something is shown to work that can then be produced in sufficient (huge) quantities, there is the likelihood of hospitals being overwhelmed.
 
Meanwhile France is ready to declare the epidemic state and put on harsher limitations.

Il semble "peu probable malheureusement" que la France échappe au stade 3, le stade épidémique, a indiqué mercredi 4 mars 2020 la porte-parole du gouvernement Sibeth Ndiaye, à l'issue d'un Conseil de défense à l'Elysée. "Nous nous préparons activement au fait d'avoir une épidémie". Au stade 3, celui où l'on constate que le virus circule et qu'il est transmissible sur l'ensemble du territoire, "les activités collectives sont fortement impactées", précise le gouvernement.

 
We might as well brace ourselves... it's only going one way.
This is sad anyway you see it, and even though it bugs the living C out of me, I actually understand most of the measures being taken, although many medias take things a bit out of proportions.
The virus is far from its highest in Europe, and if cancellation of part of (or most of) the cycling season helps slow down the spreading, I HAVE to be okay with that.
 

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