Teams And Races Scramble As Coronavirus Sweeps Cycling

Alternative events arise as concern over race cancellations mounts, reports Vern Pitt

Teams, race organisers and the UCI have all spent the week reeling from the effects of the coronavirus sweeping across the globe.

At the time of writing, the virus, which causes respiratory illness, had caused 110,000 people to fall ill and killed 3,500 across the world and has resulted in multiple races being cancelled or postponed. As it continues to spread it appears likely further cancellations could follow as it takes hold in Europe – the heart of the international racing scene.

Teams have all had to have a major rethink about how they operate. Multiple teams have withdrawn from racing altogether, including Ineos, who also suffered the sudden and unrelated death of key directeur sportif Nico Portal last week (see page 10); Mitchelton-Scott who have suspended all racing; and Movistar who have done the same.

Other teams have pulled out of key races. Parkhotel Valkenberg were the first to take this step, withdrawing from Strade Bianche. A raft of men’s teams then withdrew from Paris-Nice this week, over fears of catching the virus or spreading it further, including Jumbo-Visma, CCC and Astana.

Groupama-FDJ found itself unable to race Tirreno-Adriatico which had been due to start on 11 March in Italy, due to a host of their riders being quarantined in Abu Dhabi following the outbreak of the virus at the UAE Tour. Tirreno was later postponed.

It has been races in Italy that have been hardest hit as the country has experienced the worst outbreak of the virus outside China, where it originated, resulting in the government taking increasingly drastic measures to stop the spread. On Monday the Italian government shut down all movement in and out of swathes of the north of the country, effectively putting 16 million people in lockdown.