EF chief Jonathan Vaughters wrote the open letter to the organizer of the Giro d'Italia, to the other stables in the competition and the International Cycling Union, UCI.
He emphasized that a single positive covid-19 case in his own organization would mean that the stable left the competition.
The UCI rejected the letter.
- We are facing a tough challenge to end the season and it should be done in a spirit of cooperation and unanimity in professional cycling, says UCI's chairman David Lappartient according to Cyclingnews.
Giro d'Italia's race director Mauro Vegni does not give much for Vaughter's performance.
- Maybe the letter was sent from America where he sat with a nice little beer on the table instead of being here and see what sacrifices the cyclists and the stables make, says Vegni and gives a boot to the fact that Vaughters is in the USA.
Extra covid tests during Thursday and Friday
Girot did extra covid tests on Thursday and Friday.
Eleven stables were completely negative while the test results from the remaining nine will arrive on Saturday morning in time for the individual tempo race.
Nine people have tested positive for covid-19 and two stables, Mitchelton Scott and Jumbo-Visma have left the competition.
- It is normal for a caravan of 2000 people traveling around Italy for 25 days to get some covid-19 cases even if you are staying in a protective bubble.
Those cases are lower than in society.
We have not had such figures that Girot would be in danger, says Vegni.
Vaughters do not even have their cyclists in EF Pro Cycling with them.
- As long as we are negative, we continue to compete.
We ensure that all safety requirements are met and that all procedures are completed.
At the moment it works.
We all do what we can to protect the bubble.
I think we will come to Milan. Everyone in the stable wants to continue competing until we reach the goal in Milan.
Of course it is a pandemic, but we feel safe and want to continue, says EF's sports director Fabrizio Guidi and captain Simon Clarke.