Facial identification, a 14-meter truck and up to 1,000 tests a day: this is how the Vuelta against the coronavirus is prepared

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• Interview with Javier Guillén. "We are going to reinforce the Tour bubble"

Technology as a weapon to combat the coronavirus.

, the general director of the Tour of Spain, assures that he has not only reinforced the security bubble of the Tour, but has also adopted innovative measures against the pandemic.

In the round that begins today in Irún, the traditional parade of runners will no longer be seen in the control of signatures, stamping their signature in a box with their name and number. From today, Unipublic replaces this act of registration with an ID system

Facial tification, which reduces personal interaction and disappears the use of the pen, paper or screen.

«With this method the process of identifying people is carried out

and maintaining the safety distance ", explain those responsible for the race.

The signature process is a mandatory procedure for all tests.

If a runner skips it, they receive a sanction. «The facial recognition system is a computer-driven application that analyzes the physical characteristics of a person to identify who they are.

The program detects the user, studies the details and verifies if he is authorized to access a certain place or certain information ", they emphasize from Telefónica, the author of the system.

USE OF BIG DATA

This model, implemented by Telefónica's Security Engineering department, also has an application that helps control the spread of the virus, since it provides information on the

body temperature

l. This tool has never been used in official competitions and is included in the Movistar studies department to improve the performance of athletes.

The Spanish team uses the

Big data

to track runners' training in real time.

"This allows us to know the levels of effort of the cyclists applied to variables such as the route, the difficulty of the stages or the heart rate, it is an infallible tool to achieve the maximum performance of a team," say the technicians. The Vuelta resorts to new technologies to provide more agility and security for a round that starts today in the middle of the second wave of infections in Europe.

All precautions are few.

Yesterday, Unipublic reported the results of the

500 PCR controls

made in the preview of the competition.

No rider tested positive, but a member of the Bahrain coaching staff and another from Sunweb did.

Both are isolated.

CHECKS ON REST DAYS

The health protocol of the Vuelta is part of the regulations established by the International Cycling Union (UCI).

The 22 participating teams, both their cyclists and assistants and staff, will also undergo controls in the two

rest days

: October 26 and November 2 La Vuelta, in collaboration with the Bioser and Biorama laboratories, has a 14-meter trailer, which will travel with the race as a mobile laboratory, with 18 health professionals to guarantee the

health security

and conducting the tests at any time.

This mobile laboratory allows you to obtain results in just 24 hours and is capable of analyzing up to 1,000 samples per day if necessary.

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