Annemiek van Vleuten has been unwell during the first stages of the Tour de France Femmes and, although the illness has put a dent in her performance during stages into Provins and Épernay, she is now on the mend and confirmed not to have COVID-19.
Movistar manager Sebastián Unzué confirmed to Cyclingnews at the start of stage 4 in Troyes that Van Vleuten has been tested for the COVID-19 virus, which was negative, and that they are following all related protocols.
"When someone has symptoms we do a test, and if they don't have symptoms we don't do a test. She has had a test, it was negative, it was no problem, just a stomach thing," Unzué said.
"The doctor has evaluated everything since the first stage that she started feeling unwell. We were able to hide it [from the peloton] and play a little bit of poker for the last two stages, but yesterday she was not able to hold on."
Van Vleuten appeared to struggle on the climbs during stage 2 into Provins and stage 3 into Épernay when she later revealed that she has been recovering from stomach problems.
"It all started after the first stage, but now I’m through it," Van Vleuten said to NOS on Tuesday, revealing she had similar problems to compatriot Tom Dumoulin who famously had to have an emergency mid-stage comfort stop on stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia he ended up winning. "I’ve never been in a panic, although I did have to pull over a few times along the way. Did a Tom Dumoulin version, so to speak. Now I feel better. Everything will be fine again."
Unzué told Cyclingnews on Wednesday that Van Vleuten is getting special care from the team.
"Her stomach pain was quite limiting, it was just her stomach, food poisoning or something like that, it's strange. The doctor is taking care of her constantly,"
The UCI released the terms of the COVID-19 protocols, which were drawn up by a steering group under medical director Xavier Bigard, ahead of the Tour de France Femmes. The protocol that applies to stage races lasting seven days or more requires a negative PCR test two days ahead of the opening stage and, during the event, the riders must undergo a follow-up that includes daily questionnaires and clinical assessments by their team doctor.
"Any suspicious case will be reported by the latter to the COVID-19 doctor for the event. Isolation measures will be implemented and any decision to withdraw a rider from the event will be made on the basis of the available clinical and biological evidence, in accordance with current recommended medical 'best practices' in the context of this pandemic."
Although Movistar did not confirm the date of Van Vleuten's last test, Unzué and Movistar stated that the team has followed the protocols.
"Mid-race testing has become a common practice for many teams, including ours, and such was the case with Annemiek so far. The causes, and circumstances around Annemiek's sickness, even if not 100% tracked at this point, all point to reasons different from COVID. The team otherwise works in line with the so-called best practices from the UCI, and follows the applicable rules for it," Movistar said.
Van Vleuten started the race as a favourite to win the overall title, however, due to her stomach problems, Unzué said the team will likely try to limit their losses until they reach the weekend's stage 7 and stage 8 in the Vosges.
"I'm hoping that today we see her take another step forward. Yesterday she felt better than the day before and hopefully today she feels a bit better, too. Today she was more or less, OK. We go day-by-day hoping that every morning she wakes up better than the day before," Unzué said.
"Probably, our rivals are going to try to hurt us, knowing that she is not perfect at the moment. We have the team to defend. Annemiek normally carries the weight of the team on her shoulders, now it's the team that needs to carry Annemiek on the weight of our shoulders.
"They will take her safely to the finish line and hopefully not lose any time, or limit the losses. We have two stages that are not for the GC riders and then hopefully she can use those two stages to recover. Once we get into the weekend, hopefully, she is ready to go in the mountains."
