Cycling at home to avoid major disorders

The Movistar, as Ineos or Jumbo already did, also decides to leave the competition and return on March 22.

The disease mimics behaviors and ruins the classic and most emblematic careers of spring. Cycling is drowned by the virulence of the coronavirus. The Movistar of Valverde, the reference squad in Spain, adopts identical prophylaxis that the Ineos de Froome, the jumbo of Roglic or the Mitchelton of Yachts, who have decided to temporarily withdraw their runners from competitions to avoid contagion.

The training led by Eusebio Unzu has announced that its male and female teams will not return to the activity until March 22, so they will be absent from the Pars-Nice (from 8 to 15), the Tyrrhenian-Adritic (11-17), the Ronde van Drenthe ( 15), the Nokere Koerse (18), the Miln-San Remo (21) and Omloop van de Westhoek (22). The Alfredo Binda Trophy and the Strade Bianche They have been postponed.

In the telephone group they ensure that the decision has been taken taking into account the advice of the medical team of the entity and in response to the current situation. In order to preserve the health of all its members, as well as of all those in contact with cycling, Movistar Team adopts a measure that seeks to contribute, within its means, to normalize the situation, the team leaders said yesterday. In this way, it is expected that the Movistar, just like the Ineos, will resume its activity in the Volta to Catalunya, which will start the next day 23.

“Weigh all risks”

This break is a disorder for the development of the season. Planning is altered for health reasons and solutions to problems are improvised. Brokers will remain active but outside the competition. Now, everyone will train in their family environment, as if it were a preseason. Cyclists will not stand, they will work at home with some previously established guidelines, they affirm from a Spanish group that it is still unclear whether a concentration similar to the one organized at the beginning of each course will be carried out.

Withdrawing the team hurts and is disappointing, but we have a responsibility to carefully weigh all the risks and right now they are very high, warned Richard Plugge, CEO of the Jumbo.

The coronavirus undermines the peloton and despairs the organizers of the races. After the suspension of the last stages of the UAE Tour, all tests are postponed in Italy. Maana tear off a victim Pars-Nice, without the most important groups of the Wortd Tour: Ineos, Mitchelton Scott, Astana, UAE Emirates, CCC Team and Movistar. To complete a half-worthy squad, the organizers of the French round have invited several second-row teams. In France, races are not suspended but preventive measures are taken: cyclists must give up sign autographs, take selfies, give their drums or bump their hands. And it is that the hemorrhage of the coronavirus does not stop.