Bora-hansgrohe has pulled out of the Bretagne Classic just before the start today after one of its riders tested positive for Covid19.
Now all of the riders who were in the team with him for the one-day French race must go into a 14-day isolation.
While none of those who had been due to race today were on the Bora-hansgrohe team for the Tour de France, the incident underlines how easily Covid19 may impact teams on the Tour.
Just last week Team Ineos pulled its four Italian riders from their national championships after Leonardo Basso tested positive for Covid19.
None of those Team Ineos riders – Basso, Gianni Moscon, Filippo Ganna and Salvatore Puccio – were part of the team’s Tour plans. They are now isolating for 14 days.
Bora-hansgrohe did not specify which one of its riders tested positive in France today, causing the withdrawal of the team and the placing all the riders due to race today in isolation for 14 days.
Advertisement
Related News
However, the team had previously named its line-up as Oscar Gatto, Jay McCarthy, Jempy Drucker, Patrick Gamper, Ide Schelling, Cesare Benedetti and Marcus Burghardt.
“One of the team’s riders received a positive result from the 3-day test after a negative 6-day test,” Bora-hansgrohe said in a press statement this morning.
“As a result, Bora-hansgrohe has withdrawn the entire team from the race. All necessary measures for contact tracing have been initiated immediately.”
Jan-Niklas Droste, a doctor with the team, said having learned of the positive test the team had no option but to withdraw.
"We received the positive result this morning and
reacted immediately. The team cannot participate in the race,” he said.
“All team members who have been in direct contact with
the rider will go into self-isolation according to official regulations. The
affected rider is asymptomatic and displays no signs of illness.”
Both the Team Ineos and Bora-hansgrohe cases are a real
concern for those teams about to start the Tour. Under the rules of the race,
if there are two Covid19 positive results in a team it will be required to
withdraw from the event.
Topics
