American ProTeam Human Powered Health and the Russian Gazprom-RusVelo team have quit the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista del Sol after discovering multiple cases of COVID-19 amongst their teams in Spain.
“Unfortunately, we've had to withdraw from the #68RdS because the team returned multiple positive COVID tests this morning,” Human Powered Health said on their social media, without revealing if those involved are riders or staff and if other close contact cases will have to isolate.
Gazprom-RusVelo announced their decision to leave the race in a similar message, with reports that two people in the team tested positive for COVID-19.
Other teams and races are also being affected by COVID-19 cases. Lizzy Banks was forced to delay her debut with EF Education-TIBCO at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana on Thursday after testing positive and the Le Col-Wahoo did not start the Spanish race due to cases of COVID-19 and close contacts.
Lotto Soudal have confirmed they will field just four, instead of the usual seven riders, at the UAE Tour that starts on Sunday after a number of COVID-19 cases emerged in their roster amidst a busy early-season racing calendar.
On Friday Quick-Step-AlphaVinyl announced that Czech national time trial champion Josef Černý is also out of the UAE Tour after testing positive for COVID-19. On Thursday Fernando Gaviria tested positive for a third time in two years and cannot ride the UAE Tour and 2021 winner Tadej Pogačar tested positive recently leaving him unsure of his form for the UAE Team Emirates home race.
The Human Powered Health team in Spain includes Gavin Mannion, Stephen Bassett, Nathan Brown, Chad Haga and Ben King. Bassett finished an impressive second on stage 1 after being in the break of the day.
As per the UCI medical protocol, any riders who test positive for COVID-19 have to undergo strict testing before they are allowed to race again. While some riders appear to recover quickly and return rapidly to full training and racing, some teams are concerned about the damage COVID-19 can create if riders suffer with serious illness and return to training too early.
One team told Cyclingnews its medical staff have advised riders against intense training until the detailed check-ups have been done. Cofidis rider Jelle Wallays tested positive when he arrived in Portugal for the Volta ao Algarve and is in isolation in a hotel. He does not plan to rush his comeback.
"I've already read some weird things about riders who have had corona and don't want to damage anything in the long term. So I'll be extra careful in the first few days," he told WielerFlits.
“I don't think I'll have recovered enough to ride the Opening Weekend in Belgium but should be okay for the rest of the spring. First I want to have my body thoroughly checked by the doctors, my health must come first."
According to a Cyclingnews investigation, teams are concerned that a COVID-19 cluster could wreck a team’s plans and ambitions for the spring races.
Cyclingnews has been told that the spread of the highly contagious omicron COVID-19 variant in the European peloton could have been sparked by teams staying in the same hotel for the Challenge Mallorca races in late January. From there other clusters were created at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and then at other subsequent races. Riders could have bought other cases from homes as they joined teammates at races.
“There are a lot of positives out there! More than anyone is saying but fortunately mostly asymptomatic,” one team told Cyclingnews.
Australia’s Jack Haig of Bahrain Victorious caught COVID-19 in January delaying his start to the season.
“It’s everywhere, and it exists, and people are getting it of course and it’s affecting race programmes. But it’s something we just need to manage,” he told Cyclingnews from the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista del Sol.
