Stéphane Rossetto cannot leave the Emirates as his team. - John Pierce Owner PhotoSport Int / REX / SIPA

The riders of the French cycling teams Cofidis and Groupama-FDJ, confined to a hotel in the Emirates for ten days because of the epidemic of new coronavirus, announced Sunday the end of their quarantine.

This placement in quarantine was decided after the revelation of several positive cases to Covid-19 which had led to the cancellation of the last two stages of the Tour of the Emirates (UAE Tour).

If the great majority of the competitors of the test had been able to leave the country in the following three or four days, following negative tests, the discovery of new cases had led the authorities to confine the formations present on the floor of the hotel where the infected people lived.

" We're going back home ! ", Reacted Arnaud Démare without specifying the exact date of the return. Picard is one of the four riders of the Groupama-FDJ team present on the spot with David Gaudu, the Dutchman Ramon Sinkeldam and the Lithuanian Ignatas Konovalovas.

"Thank you very much to all those who worked day and night to anticipate the return," reacted Cédric Vasseur, general manager of the Cofidis team, about the people of his training retained on the spot.

End of quarantine @TeamCOFIDIS @uae_tour THANK YOU so much to all those who worked day and night to anticipate the return of the team and give them a smile. THANKS @LucaPapini @rcssport @uae_tour @DLappartient @Amina_Lanaya @UCI_cycling @TeamCOFIDIS #CofidisMyTeam # COVID19 pic.twitter.com/PJQinxVJPD

- Cédric Vasseur (@cedvasseur) March 8, 2020

The riders and the management of the teams concerned, whose initial results were negative, recently passed new tests. The report was awaited these last hours.

Initially, the quarantine measure was to last until March 14. "We are officially in quarantine with a probable return on March 14. We learn that people who are positive for the coronavirus were on the same floor as us, ”announced Démare on Wednesday.

The day before, the Ministry of Health of the United Arab Emirates had announced the appearance in the country of six additional cases of new coronavirus, "related" to the two cases which motivated the interruption of the Tour of the Emirates cycling.

Sport

Coronavirus: Junk food, boredom and waiting ... Confined to an hotel in Abu Dhabi, cyclist Stéphane Rossetto can't take it anymore

  • Cofidis
  • Fdj
  • Sport
  • Cycling
  • Coronavirus
  • Cycling