When news emerged that Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan Sanremo would all go ahead despite fears over the coronavirus, EF Pro Cycling team boss Jonathan Vaughters greeted the development enthusiastically.
"Very happy to see this; getting on with business as usual," he said of RCS Sport insisting it was pressing ahead with its plans.
"Accepting risk is part of living. Accepting and embracing risk is a really big part of cycling and professional cycling," added Vaughters. "So, let’s get on with it and race some bikes!"
But within hours it emerged his team was exploring its options with a view to not be going to Italy and that it had effectively asked to be excused, such has been the speed at which the coronavirus situation in Italy has change.
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According to the Wall Street Journal, EF Pro Cycling’s riders want to adhere to the US public health authorities’ advice to desist from all “non essential” travel to Italy.
And so the US WorldTour team has written to the UCI asking that they be excused from the Italian WorldTour races, without being fined.
“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,” the team’s letter said.
“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.”
Vaughters responded in the only way he could; by Tweeting that “sometimes I really manage to put my foot in my mouth. Guess that’s how learning occurs” accompanied by a photo of his (or somebody else’s) foot in his mouth.
Meanwhile, the number of cases of
coronavirus in Italy is now at 2,502 with 79 deaths.
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There are reports the authorities there are set to ban all major sports events in a bid to curb the virus, which would mean the RCS Sport races wouldn’t go ahead after all.
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