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UAE-Emirates sends home three riders from Vuelta a Burgos after contact with confirmed COVID-19 case

Israel Start-Up Nation had already removed two riders as a precaution

Photo by: Sirotti

Road racing might be back but it’s a nervous affair, as the 2Pro-rated Vuelta a Burgos in Spain has revealed so far. First Israel Start-Up Nation yanked Alex Dowsett and Itamar Einhorn before the race; Einhorn had been in contact with confirmed case and teammate Oscar Goldstein, who wasn’t racing in Spain, and Dowsett had been in contact Einhorn. Einhorn, Dowsett and several ISUN staff members tested negative. On Wednesday, UAE-Emirates sent home three Colombian riders–Sebastian Molano, Cristian Muñoz and Camilo Ardila–before the second stage because they had been in contact with someone who tested positive on Tuesday.

This all comes the week before the WorldTour returns with Saturday’s Strade Bianche.

UAE-Emirates isolated the Colombian trio before removing it from the race. This leaves four from the squad to carry on, including Fernando Gaviria and Max Richeze, both of whom caught the virus at the UAE Tour in late-February, where COVID-19 first raised its wretched head in the peloton.

According to Belgian Dutch-language media Het Laatste Nieuws, Movistar tried to convince ISUN to pack up the whole team and depart.

Burgos race officials have set up temperature checks for riders before the start.

Tuesday’s opening stage saw Bora-Hansgrohe keep up its recent winning ways, as Austrian Felix “Three S” Grossschartner beat a raft of riders like Alejandro Valverde, Mikel Landa, Remco Evenepoel and Ivan Sosa on a finishing kick-up in Mirador del Castillo.

The Vuelta a Burgos can be viewed on FloBikes.