|
At Cofidis, the last two stages of the Tour of the United Arab Emirates were awaited on Friday and Saturday to allow Attilio Viviani to try his luck in the last two final sprints. But last Thursday, following the suspicion of two cases of Coronavirus in the race caravan, the local authorities and the organisers decided to cancel the last two days of competition.
Cyclists morale still high
The riders, staff members and Thierry Vittu - Director of Human Resources of the Cofidis Participations Group and President of Cofidis Competition - were then confined to their hotel in Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi, like all the teams. Each of them underwent several tests (temperature and saliva test) during the night of Thursday to Friday.
As a safety measure, they all stayed in their respective rooms, without this affecting the morale of the Cofidis team riders. On Saturday morning, the health authorities made it official that no positive cases had been detected in the northern formation. " This is excellent news," said Michel Cerfontaine, the Cofidis doctor.
He also announces that for the next 14 days he will "follow the precautionary principles and continue to monitor the riders and staff members". Despite this reassuring news, the suspicion of a positive case on the same floor of the hotel where the Cofidis delegation is staying forces the whole team to remain confined. While they should have returned to France this Sunday morning, the local authorities are still unclear as to when they can be repatriated.
|
