The Ineos team skips three weeks of the cycling calendar, including Paris-Nice and Milan-Sanremo, announced Wednesday the British formation, bereaved by the death of its French sports director Nicolas Portal and in full uncertainty about the holding of several Italian races, due to the epidemic of new coronavirus.
"Following the tragic loss of Nico Portal, combined with the current uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus, Team Ineos today decided to temporarily withdraw from all races until the Volta a Catalunya on March 23," said the team of the latest Paris-Nice winner, Egan Bernal, on Twitter.
Following the tragic loss of Nico Portal, and in addition to the current uncertainty around the Coronavirus, Team INEOS have today taken the decision to withdraw temporarily from all racing until the Volta a Catalunya on March 23.
- Team INEOS (@TeamINEOS) March 4, 2020Mourning and worry at Ineos
In addition to the "race in the sun" and the "Primavera", the British team will not participate in the Strade Bianche, scheduled for Saturday, nor in Tirreno-Adriatico threatened by possible health measures by the Italian government in reaction to the crisis of the new coronavirus. The runners of Ineos will not line up on two Belgian races either: the Bredene Koksijde Classic and the Nokere Koerse.
"We do this first and foremost to take care of our team members, their families and their friends, who are all mourning a beloved colleague and whose funeral will take place in the coming days," said in a statement. the British team in the aftermath of the death at 40 of its sports director Nicolas Portal to 6 victories on the Tour de France. While acknowledging "that there is also a very uncertain situation with coronavirus more generally. "
Cascading cancellations
The Australian team Mitchelton-Scott, including the British Adam and Simon Yates, announced Wednesday that it would ignore all Italian races, as well as Paris-Nice, justifying it by its "duty to protect the health and well-being of our runners and members ”. The Dutch team Jumbo also announced that it would give up participating in the Strade Bianche.
On another continent, four teams (UAE Emirates, Gazprom, Cofidis, Groupama-FDJ) were officially placed in quarantine in the United Arab Emirates until March 14. The illness had caused the cancellation of the last two stages of the Tour of the Emirates. Consequently, "lack of sufficient staff (runners and staff)", the French group Groupama-FDJ withdrew Wednesday evening for the Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico.
Sport
Coronavirus: Junk food, boredom and waiting ... Confined to an hotel in Abu Dhabi, cyclist Stéphane Rossetto can't take it anymore
- Paris-nice
- Sport
- coronavirus
- Ineos
- Cycling
- Cycling