Vincenzo Nibali will not ride this week’s Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista del Sol after testing positive for COVID-19.
Nibali was due to line-up alongside new Astana Qazaqstan teammates Miguel Angel López, Alexey Lutsenko and fellow Italian Valerio Conte but now faces time in isolation before he can return to training.
"The team will communicate about his new racing program later," said Astana Qazaqstan on Twitter when announcing that he would miss the five-stage race starting on Wednesday.
As per the UCI medical protocol, Nibali will also have to undergo a series of heart and lung check-ups before he is allowed to race again. According to the UCI, the vaccination coverage within the teams (both riders and staff) is at 97 per cent.
On Monday, Toms Skujiņš of Trek-Segafredo revealed he will be unable to ride the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal after also testing positive in a pre-travel rapid test. On Friday, Richard Carapaz of Ineos Grenadiers tested positive for COVID-19 while competing in the Tour de la Provence and immediately withdrew from the French stage race.
Even with high vaccination rates, the peloton has been hit by the omicron COVID-19 variant, with cases disrupting pre-season training camps and then race schedules. Peter Sagan missed 17 days of training with his new TotalEnergies teammates in January and the Jumbo-Visma team closed down their training camp after an outbreak of cases.
Jumbo-Visma and BikeExchange-Jayco both withdrew from the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana after positive cases. The Movistar team only removed the two riders who had tested positive but a week later they were forced to miss races, with Alejandro Valverde unable to ride his home race, the Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia at the weekend and the new Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior gravel race.
