All other team members negative in follow-up testing
Matthew Walls (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the best young rider's jersey at the start of stage 2 of Tour de la Provence(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The Bora-Hansgrohe team have been stopped from riding today's E3 Saxo Bank Classic in Belgium after Britain's Matt Walls tested positive for COVID-19 in final pre-race testing.
The German WorldTour team said that all their other team members tested negative in follow-up PCR tests but, under the Belgian Cycling Federation's COVID-19 protocol, they were not allowed to take part in the race.
The Bora-Hansgrohe team for E3 Saxo Bank Classic included Daniel Oss and Nils Politt but not Peter Sagan, who opted to ride the Volta a Catalunya in Spain before heading to Belgium for the Tour of Flanders next weekend.
A number of teams have been hit by COVID-19 recently. In Spain two members of the Kern Pharma ProTeam tested positive in testing carried out on Thursday and Friday at the Volta a Catalunya.
Australia’s Harry Sweeny of Lotto Soudal did not start the Classic Brugge-De Panne on Wednesday because he was ill and later tested positive for COVID-19 in a PCR test. As a result teammate Tosh Van der Sande was placed into quarantine after finishing the race.
A number of other riders have been hit by COVID-19 in the first months of 2021. Peter Sagan and several Bora-Hansgrohe teammates were forced to quarantine in Gran Canaria after catching the virus during a privately held training camp.
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Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
