Heal up, champ 💪 We and the #Giro are going to miss you, but we’re sure more opportunities to show yourself will come sooner or later! Photo: @BeelWout
Virologist Marc Van Ranst explains why continuing to race with covid is wrong: "It's not a walking race from Wilsele to Leuven, is it?
CyclingMonday, 15 May 2023 at 17:30
Although Remco Evenepoel is not the first rider to abandon this year's Giro d'Italia and more than likely he will not be the last, questions have been raised after the Belgian's departure about whether or not covid remains a threat. Virologist Marc Van Ranst explains why it is unwise to carry on racing after a positive test.
"Of course, it's not a walking race from Wilsele to Leuven, is it? Evenepoel has made the right decision for his health," Van Ranst tells Sporza about the threat of covid on a rider during a three-week stage race. "Moreover, you still live there in a group. You can't manage to infect everyone there, even now that the virus is less strong than before. Corona no longer has the full power as it used to, but still..."
Departing the Giro d'Italia whilst wearing the Maglia Rosa will of course be a huge disappointment to Evenepoel. How the Soudal - Quick-Step leader contracted the virus is still unknown though. "Remco will not have gained it on the bike, but in a place with poor ventilation and a lot of people, such as the press room before the start," Van Ranst explains. "I don't think Evenepoel will have much corona. It will still be in an early stage. I just hope the tests were done properly and that it wasn't a false positive."
"Sports people feel the effect less. It shows once again what a great athlete Evenepoel is," he continues. "Maybe it immediately explains why his lead was smaller than expected."
claps 0visitors 648
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Funny I've watched that moment a few times when Cancellara powered away and thought was that for real? Now Pogacar does similar regularly and I don't know what to think?roadman5412123-12-2024
- "He's such a good leader and motivator." Really?roadman5412123-12-2024
- Most of these have nothing to do with rider safety or are completely unachievablevappaxbipmv23-12-2024
- Depends on how fast the Cipressa would be beforehand and in what condition Philipsen would bevappaxbipmv23-12-2024
- Some things sound crazy until they aren't, what if he's actually right? 🤷vappaxbipmv23-12-2024
- Why make a comment to state the obvious? Of course MvdP is much better at CX than Pogacar, does anyone doubt that But that wasn't his pointvappaxbipmv23-12-2024
- If you look at road alone obvi Pogacar is the better rider. But maybe MVDP is the better overall rider since he can win in three plus disciplines?mobk23-12-2024
- Correction on 2021 Olympics. It was mainly the Dutch ladies who didn’t know who was leading the race. Other teams like the Germans and Italians knew that Kiesenhofer was out front.mobk23-12-2024
- A champion turning into a sore loser. Or is he on coke again?
UltimateOpportunist23-12-2024 - If you look at the major races they’ve both been in, van der Poel had the early edge as lately Pogacar has had the advantage. It’s all on procyclingstats.RidesHills23-12-2024