Mitchelton-Scott has become the first pro team to announce it is taking its riders out of racing action for an extended period because of the coronavirus.
The WorldTour squad, which has a men’s
and women’s team, said it was withdrawing from all racing until March 23rd in
all parts of the world irrespective of the Government controls in different
nations.
The races they have pulled out of are: Strade
Bianche (men and women), GP Industria (men), Paris-Nice (men), Tirreno-Adriatico
(men), Ronde van Drenthe (women), Danilith Nokere Koerse (women), Milan-Sanremo
(men) and Trofeo Alfredo Binda (women).
The move comes as doctors from many WorldTour teams have written to ASO and RCS Sport and asked them to cancel their upcoming races because of the virus.
Those events would include the major fixtures this weekend; Paris-Nice and Strade Binache.
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While ASO and RCS Sport were insisting in recent days their races would go ahead, the rate of spread of the virus has accelerated sharply in Europe even in the past 24 hours.
Furthermore, eight people at UAE Tour
tested positive for the virus, four of whom are reported to be riders.
Amid the worsening coronavirus outbreak
it is looking increasingly likely that many of the biggest teams in the world
may effectively decline to race for the next few weeks.
If that is the case and they don’t turn up to some races and decide not to travel to some countries, they would effectively close down top flight cycling for at least the next three or four weeks.
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EF Pro Cycling, Parkhotel Valkenburg and
Jumbo-Visma have all decided not to race in Strade Bianche and GP Industria
this weekend, because of the coronavirus.
Jumbo Visma said: “The decision has been taken on medical advice, the recommendation of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as on sportive and practical grounds.
"It’s likely that the same decision will apply to other Italian races in March. However, we are also awaiting messages from the Italian government. “
The Mitchelton-Scott statement said of
its own situation: “The UCI and these races have each been notified of the
decision.
“During this period (to March 23rd),
the situation will be closely monitored and decisions for the following period
will be made.”
The statement went on to explain the
reasons for withdrawing from racing, as follows: “We, as team doctors and the
wider team, have a duty of care to protect health and wellbeing of all our
riders and staff.
“We will not have any input into, or control over, the measures that race organisers may or may not put in place to manage the COVID-19 risks,” Mitchelton Scott explained.
“We are a moving, international logistical puzzle, with staff and riders traveling between different countries with different health systems and strategies around COVID-19.”
The team added that “constant travel
will increase the health risks and make management of logistics, potential
quarantine periods extremely difficult”.
It concluded: “Whilst we have put in all
the preparations and are eager to race, as an organisation we believe this is
the best way to ensure we adhere to our duty of care to riders and staff,
before returning to business as usual as soon as possible.”
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