Israel-Premier Tech to miss Tour of Flanders due to illness

Israel-Premier Tech will not be racing Tour of Flanders this Sunday for medical reasons. On Thursday, the team released a statement saying that the team in Belgium has been impacted by illness and injury and yesterday, a second COVID-19 case was confirmed. The rider and staff group currently in Belgium are now all considered close contacts. With the team also racing in Spain this weekend, and many other riders currently sidelined with injury or illness, the team is unable to field a healthy roster at this late notice.

This latest bout of illness follows a tough Paris-Nice where Hugo Houle was the sole rider that managed to finish the race. Michael Woods has also been struggling in the early season, citing earlier sickness in the year that has hampered his form.

Israel-Premier Tech General Manager Kjell Carlström said the decision to withdraw has been made in the best interests of the team and the wider peloton.

“This is a very regrettable situation and we are extremely disappointed to have to withdraw from the Tour of Flanders. This decision has not been taken lightly but we feel this is our only option at this stage. It is no secret we have had COVID-19 and other illness and also crash-induced injuries wiping out the majority of our riders at one stage or another in recent weeks,” Carlström said. “Right now, we have very few healthy riders who could take to the start line, but they are now close contacts, and it is out of respect for the race and the rest of the peloton, that we are making this decision. It is our duty of care to the other teams to not willingly send riders who have been exposed to Covid-19 into a race.

The team hopes to give their cobbled classics riders, such as Canadian Guillaume Boivin to recover and hit the reset button. IPT believes that the decision will allow them save the remainder of the spring season and get back on track.