• Tadej Pogacar: The unprecedented calm of those who come back vaccinated

The pioneer of misfortunes returns to the stage where it all began.

Colombian

Fernando Gaviria

(26 years old), UAE Emirates Team sprinter, now relives that nightmare with the damn virus that kept him in quarantine.

He, outside of the Chinese sphere, was the first high-level athlete to confess to being infected by Covid-19.

It was a year ago in the

Tour of the United Arab Emirates

(UAE), a cycling round that was also marked, on February 27, as the first sporting event.

a suspended due to the pandemic.

An unbearable cascade of disruptions then erupted, culminating in global lockdown at the end of March, leading to a tunnel of unsuspected length.

“We thought that the coronavirus was a game, but no.

It affected me and I spent some days of anguish, ”Gaviria declared on April 8, after returning to Bogotá after spending a month of convalescence in the Emirates.

Then his partner, the Argentine, was also affected

Maximilian Richeze

and the russian

Dimitry Strakhov

(Gazprom). Gaviria and UAE linked by adversity and that 12 months later seek compensation.

The Persian Gulf race will be held again from this Sunday until February 27 with the aim of closing the scars of last year and showing that the fight against the pandemic is on the right track.

To this end, those responsible for the Abu Dhabi race have implemented a strict protocol.

All teams are concentrated in the hotel of the Formula 1 circuit of

Yas Marina

.

During the dispute of the stages the presence of the media is not allowed.

The strongest bubble.

Rigid protocols

«I feel good and wanting to forget everything that has happened.

I trust all security measures, "said Gaviria, who also holds the unpleasant precedent of being the first athlete reinfected by the virus, was last October 20 during the

Italy spin

.

Another stoppage that closed a hateful season for the Colombian, who found it impossible to expand his remarkable record, where five stages stand out in the Giro, two in the Tour de France and different partial triumphs in Paris-Tours, Tirreno-Adriatico and Vuelta al Algarve The Colombian sprinter and the rest of the riders of Team UAE and

have been vaccinated

against Covid-19.

They have benefited from the health plans of the United Arab Emirates, which together with Israel is the leading country in the administration of injections against the coronavirus. The runners, assistants and technicians who will participate in the UAE Tour have had to pass three negative tests .

“The protocols are rigid, as they should be due to the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

Let's see if this ends soon and we can get back to normal, "he warns

Josean Fernandez Matxin

, manager of Fernando Gaviria's team, while he is packing his suitcase to go to Abu Dhabi.

Preparation on the Teide

In Emirates, the curtain rises on the UCI World Tour calendar, with a round of seven stages, four for the sprinters to show off, a time trial and two days up.

The participation is of the first level, with the presence of

Froome

(debuts with the Israel team),

Valverde

,

Nibali

,

Ganna

,

Adam Yates

,

Van der poel

,

Almeida

,

Uran

or

Majka

.

The great attraction is

Tadej pogacar

, the last winner of the Tour de France, who begins the course with the aim of revalidating the victory in the

Big Boucle

.

“Tadej, as he has already shown, is a very talented rider.

He is a very normal guy, his victory in the Tour has not changed him, he is still the same boy who wants to learn.

Of course this year the situation will be different, because the surprise effect disappears ", he points out

Fernandez Matxin

, director and discoverer of the Slovenian rider (22 years old) “This is my first race of the season, so I am excited to be racing again.

My preparation has gone very well.

I have been on Teide training at altitude for the last few weeks.

It has been a quality job, ”says the winner of the 2020 Tour and third in the 2019 Vuelta, which last year won the stage of the UAE Tour with a finish at the top of

Jebel hafeet

, just before suspension.

«I have a great memory of that victory.

It will be a slightly different environment this year, but we are all really motivated to race, "says Fernando Gaviria's teammate.

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