End of the road
Froome in isolation as coronavirus halts UAE Tour
Chris Froome, Mark Cavendish and a host of other big-name riders were waiting to be tested for coronavirus last night after the UAE Tour was cancelled with two stages of the race remaining following an outbreak of the disease.
Teams, staff and journalists started tweeting late last night to say they were being confined to their hotel rooms pending testing.
Froome, who is making his return from nine months out injured, confirmed that news shortly afterwards. “It’s a shame that the #UAETOUR has been cancelled but public health must come first,” the fourtime Tour de France champion wrote on Twitter. “We are all awaiting testing and will remain at the hotel until further notice. I hope those affected make a speedy recovery and there aren’t any further cases #coronavirus.”
La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that it was two staff members at UAE Team Emirates who had tested positive, although that was not confirmed. Race promoters the Abu Dhabi Sports Council issued a statement saying that “two Italian participants” had tested positive, without specifying to which team they belonged. “The decision has been taken to ensure [the] protection of all the race’s participants,” said the organisers, adding: “Safety comes at the top of all priorities.”
The development may have serious implications for the ongoing track world championships in Berlin with Michael Morkov, who is over with the Danish team, having raced in the first four stages of the
UAE Tour before flying to Germany. A spokesperson for the British squad said they were liaising with the International Cycling Union’s medical team.
The Abu Dhabi Sports Council statement added that “all the race’s participants, administrative staff and organisers will be examined through the continuous periodic screening being conducted, and all needed procedures, including quarantine measures will be taken to ensure viral suppression and curb the spread of its outbreak”.
Britain has six riders involved in the race, including the current race leader Adam Yates [Mitcheltonscott]. Froome [Team Ineos], Cavendish [Bahrain-merida], Alex Dowsett [Israel Start-up Nation], Charlie Quarterman [Trek-segafredo] and James Knox [Deceuninck-quickstep] are the others.
Meanwhile, for a second consecutive night at the track worlds, Britain were beaten into the silver medal position in an event in which they are Olympic champions.
On Wednesday it was the men’s sprint team who broke their British record but still finished a distant second to the Dutch. Last night it was the turn of the women’s pursuit team to cast nervous glances in the direction of their rivals as they finished almost two seconds behind the United States.
Elinor Barker, Katie Archibald, Ellie Dickinson and Neah Evans managed a 4:13.129 in the final, but could do nothing to stop a US quartet inspired by the return of star rider Chloe Dygert. The Americans clocked 4:11.235 in the final.
The British quartet can take encouragement from the fact that they went much faster in qualifying – setting the third-fastest time in history with a 4:11.871 – and also that they still have their Olympic equipment to come on stream.
“America are strong,” Archibald said. “What impresses me is that they have a big gene pool and you see some exceptional performance. There are some riders I have never [even] ridden against. It’s thrilling.”
Laura Kenny, despite breaking her shoulder a month ago, returned to ride in the semi-final.
The men’s pursuit team did not make the medal rides and had to watch the Danish quartet, who set two world records on Wednesday, lower the mark still further yesterday to 3:44.672. There was better news in the women’s sprint, with Katy Marchant managing to qualify Great Britain for a spot at the Olympics despite going out in the last 16 of the competition.