It was still February 27 and the word coronavirus sounded like a still distant concern in Spain . The front pages of the newspapers were not yet for the damn virus and the government barely spoke of "moderate" risk (until that day, it described it as "mild") due to the presence of some twenty confirmed cases throughout the country. In Abu Dhabi , however, one of those drastic decisions was already being made that soon cascaded both in sport and in the rest of our lives: the Emirates Tour , in the absence of two stages, was canceled by the coronavirus.

From there news began to come that sounded surreal: extreme confinement in hotel rooms, obligatory isolation, food left on the doors of the rooms as if they had sucked inside ... And in one of them, Fernando Gaviria began to notice the affections of the disease that changed everything. The ' zero patient ' of world cycling had been an assistant to the UAE team , to which the Colombian sprinter belongs, and who seems to have contracted a curse with the Covid-19.

"The fever disappeared after two days and after that I did not feel anything in particular ... without coughing fits, without pain in the lungs, nothing," he recounted just a few days ago. Despite everything, the tests to which he was subjected continued to be positive. She had to stay for a month in Abu Dhabi, waiting for the negative result, and then another 20 days more to be able to return to her native Colombia to be reunited with her family. In total, 50 days of nightmare for which this Wednesday, so long after, he found redemption raising his arms in Villadiego .

And that the day started crooked. Because in the second stage of the Vuelta a Burgos , already back today, three of his teammates had to abandon the race because they had been in contact with a positive. Sebastián Molano, Cristián Muñoz and Camilo Ardila , all of them also Colombians, gave a negative result in the PCR test they underwent, but caution prevails, as had happened the previous day with two Israeli runners. And Gaviria, suddenly, was left very alone, although still with his best protector, the Argentine Max Richeze , to seek a redemptive victory.

His powerful start, 300 meters from the finish line, left other great sprinters present at the Burgos event, such as Démare, Bennett or Trentin . A 10-day show of strength that should be one of your great objectives for this strange course, the Milan-San Remo . "It tastes good," he said, without removing the mask from his mouth, about a victory that, for many reasons, he will never forget. Felix Grossschartner , winner of the first stage, continues as the leader, waiting for the Picón Blanco to unbalance the balance on Thursday.

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