Sapura ditch Greece plan
TEAM Sapura Cycling have cancelled their plan to race in Greece after one of their Italian riders tested positive for Covid-19.
Team principal Sayuti Zahit revealed that Pierpaolo Ficara, who finished fourth overall in Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) last season, tested positive for the virus in Syracuse, Sicily last month.
Sapura’s foreign riders have been training in their own countries since the pandemic struck last year.
The UCI continental team had intended to include Ficara in their squad for the Tour of Rhodes (UCI 2.2) which is set to run from April 8-11 in Greece.
Sayuti said they have little choice but to scrap their plan in Greece which had also included racing in a number of one-day races after the Tour of Rhodes.
“Pierpaolo’s condition has improved, he has informed us that he has been discharged from hospital and is now undergoing home quarantine in Italy,” said Sayuti yesterday.
“We s u b s equently decided not to race in Greece as we do not have enough riders to split (the team) between two races. We only have 12 riders in the squad this season.
“We will go ahead with our plans to race in the Tour of Turkey next week.”
The Tour of Turkey, a UCI 2.Pro event, is the bigger race of the two and will run from April 11-18.
Sapura have named Le Tour de Langkawi winner Danilo Celano (Italy), Jesse Ewart (Ireland), Ahmet Orken (Turkey), Nur Aiman Rosli, Zawawi Azman and national road champion Akmal Hakim Zakaria for their Tour of Turkey squad.
Sapura pared down their squad this year due to the pandemic, and had allowed Roy Eefting (the Netherlands), Marcus Culey (Australia), Serghei Tvetcov (Romania) and Nur Aiman Zariff to leave at the end of last season after receiving offers from other teams. Fadhli Ishak