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Effects of coronavirus on professional races

Page 19 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Maybe just hit "pause" on the entire WT calendar right now, start up again in June with the TdF warm up races and go until November. Not even sure you could squeeze in the Giro right now, given that covid-19 hasn't hit France or Germany with any force yet, not to mention Spain or the UK. Even if Italy is declared a "go" zone by the end March (but likely mid April)

It's depressing but it is what it is. I'd rather see no racing than have asterisks aside P-N etc because half the teams didn't show up.
I suspect a quarantine at P-N would guarantee this happening.
 
Gotta say i am staggered that riders from the UAE tour are riding PN. Everyone from the UAE tour should stand down for 14 days.
Will add that its easier to run one day races as opposed to stage races.
They were given the green light to travel home and I'm sure the teams are monitoring them closely. It seems ridiculous to ask them to miss this race as it could be one of the few quality races in quite a while. Also with how the virus is spreading anyone could potentially infected right now, not just those who were unfortunate enough to be in the same hotel as some infected people.
 
Why are teams expecting to race by April? Are people expecting Coronavirus to be gone by then? All projections I have seen, show it to only get worse.

I am reading it is expected to peak in August. Look on the bright side, in Europe you are headed for the warmer months. Down here in Oz, we are headed into the cooler traditional flu season. Absolutely the worst timing down under for this unfolding epidemic.
 
They were given the green light to travel home and I'm sure the teams are monitoring them closely. It seems ridiculous to ask them to miss this race as it could be one of the few quality races in quite a while. Also with how the virus is spreading anyone could potentially infected right now, not just those who were unfortunate enough to be in the same hotel as some infected people.

I can guarantee that all the media who attended the UAE tour are self isolating. And this is standard practice at the moment that if you have close contact with an infected person.
 
The team doctor of DQS is correct: the teams that are withdrawing, they will still travel, still go on altitude camps, etc. - so who are they kidding?


Movistar does altitude camps? The other teams, yes, but I don't think that comment applies to Movistar as they are known for leaving their riders to train on their own. Also EF went in that direct last year, so it's likely they won't do anything that way during this period either.
 
Lol @ Velon trying to paint it as UCI objecting to them for equality reasons. Trying to paint themselves as the knights in shining armour rather than what they are: another lobby group no different from ASO or Flanders Classics, only with their main assets being wobbly camera footage and the comparatively worthless Hammer Series Joke Show, rather than a prestigious and credible portfolio of races. Yet another press release which reeks heavily of Vaughters' carefully-chosen advertising-friendly media nothingspeak.

Edit: oh, and in case anybody dismisses this as hypocrisy in view of my previous attitudes to the Hammer Series, the idea of Jonathan Vaughters trying to sell himself and an organisation he is so prominent in as being the vehicle of progressive attitudes after the way he treated the women's team he inherited and abandoned is a large part of why I am absolutely not willing to buy this excuse. This reeks of trying to characterise the UCI as a bunch of change-resistant old men (which they are) in order for Velon to portray themselves as inclusive, progressive and appeal to a younger, more "woke" audience with words which are entirely at odds with the actions of people like Vaughters when they actually had the opportunity to do something for women's cycling. And that's why I'm dismissing this as a completely transparent media ploy.
 
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***. But the decision had to be made i suppose. Not even so much for the protection of the pro peloton, but more the general public.

The new numbers out of italy are scary as ***.

The whole spring calendar is done imo, even giro is in serious danger and who knows, maybe even the Tour.

***.
 
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Today I haven't been able to follow closely because I was out for work (and they even sent me in Rome where a new cluster popped up today...) but in Italy situation continues to worsen, in Germany continues to skyrocket with 290 new cases, in France they started to close schools, in Spain there have been 119 new cases and 5 deaths, in Belgium they doubled up the cases from 50 to 109 (and worse for us are mainly in Flanders) and also in the Nederlands they had almost 50 new cases and the first death. Probably we should really start to fear also for the Giro (the classics IMHO are already gone) unless the teams at a certain point decide that with a pandemic everywhere ride or not is the same.
 
Any riders who get COVID-19 and subsequently recover should be free to ride anywhere, any time. They can't catch it again (OK, there's one alleged case where that happened, but it's extremely rare), and they can't give it to anyone.

Exactly. But anyone who rode UAE should self isolate for 14 days. Think this one of the reasons why teams withdrew from the next Block of racing. It should be UCI mandated.
 

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