Coronavirus fears put top 2020 cycle races in doubt

Cancelling the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France would be a disaster for cycling, UCI president David Lappartient whose sport has already been badly hit by the coronavirus crisis, said.

Several races, including the Tirreno-Adriatico and MilanSan Remo, have been called off as Italy deals with escalating numbers of infections and deaths.

The Giro d’Italia, the second-biggest race after the Tour de France, is due to start on May 9 in Budapest, ending in Milan on May 31.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Monday that all sports events in the country had been suspended.

Asked about the prospect of the Giro and Tour de France falling victim to the coronavirus crisis, Lappartient said: “That would be a disaster for our sport of course if we can’t have the Giro D’Italia or the Tour de France.”

Cycling blue riband event the Tour de France starts in July and Lappartient expressed some optimism that by then the worst of the coronavirus outbreak could be over.

“Maybe the gap of two months in between (the Giro and Tour de France) will have also some consequences on the virus,” the Frenchman said. “We hope that by summer the virus may have peaked.

“So we hope that these races will take place.

“But due to the situation in Italy we are more worried today about the Giro d’Italia.

“We know that the lock down decision from the Italian government is until April 3, but who knows what the situation will be after then.

“So there is a potential risk that the Giro might be cancelled.”

The Giro began in 1909 and has been held every year apart from during the two world wars while the Tour de France was first held in 1903 and has been contested every year since 1947.

Italy has been severely hit by the coronavirus and is behind China in terms of infections.

France has banned gatherings of more than 1,000 people as the death toll and number of coronavirus infections continue to rise.

The Paris-Nice race is ongoing, but with infections rising in France, Lappartient said there was a danger that the race might have to be cancelled too or fans barred from watching it.

“I hope Paris-Nice can go to the end. This is the goal. But maybe the prefect will have to decide whether or not they close the finishing area to fans and so on,” he said.

“This is not what we want, but if it’s the only solution, we’ll have to go ahead with this.

“We have to follow the situation and take the best decision at the moment.”