EF Pro Cycling pulls out of Italian races amid coronavirus fears
EF Pro Cycling has pulled out of Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo and Tirreno-Adriatico following concerns about the spread of coronavirus.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the American team has sent a letter to the UCI requesting that it be allowed to skip the three Italian WorldTour races without penalty. The team reportedly wants to follow a recommendation from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that “all non-essential travel to Italy” be avoided.
“We think it best to follow this advice and make all efforts to keep our staff and riders healthy and to help ensure they are not at risk of transmitting the virus,” said EF’s letter, according to the Journal. “The team feels a responsibility to the greater public health efforts in place across affected areas, and we feel a responsibility to our fans and to the people of the towns and cities we travel to as part of the WorldTour.”
We watched as EF China pivoted almost 200,000 students from brick/mortar English classes to online in 3 weeks and realized this problem needs a creative, leadership driven solution. While this was a tough call, we are happy to have an owner in EF that backs bold decisions. https://t.co/xiYVbV7Sd5
— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) March 3, 2020
While there have been some suggestions that Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo and Tirreno-Adriatico will be cancelled, organiser RCS Sport said Monday that it was confident the races would go ahead. RCS Sport might not get to make the final decision, however — Italian media reports suggest that the Italian government might be set to enforce sweeping cancellations to sporting events.
ANSA (Italian press agency) just informed that Italian government is going to stop all the sporting events that requires crowd in less than 1m space for the next 30 days in all the country. Sporting events will be able to be held only behind closed doors in this period.
— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) March 3, 2020
As a UCI WorldTeam, EF Pro Cycling is obliged to take part in every race on the WorldTour calendar, including Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo and Tirreno-Adriatico. It’s not yet clear how the UCI has responded to EF Pro Cycling’s request to be excluded from the races without penalty.
The news of EF’s stance comes on the same day that health authorities in the UAE announced that a further six coronavirus cases had been detected among the UAE Tour contingent. Two Italian team staff had originally tested positive for the virus, prompting quarantine measures at the race hotels.
Some teams remain at the race hotel, several days after the race was brought to a premature end.
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