The coronavirus, responsible for two-thirds of the Vuelta’s abandonments

The coronavirus continues to collect fees and in the 77th edition of the Vuelta two thirds of cyclists who have abandoned or failed to start have done so after testing positive for this pandemic which has conditioned the life of the whole world for the past two and a half years.

Until now Of the seven cyclists who withdrew from the Spanish race, five of them did so after testing positive in some of the constant test controls to which they were subjected, and another had to leave even though his team had time to replace him.

In the seventh stage, contested between Camargo (Cantabria) and Cistierna (León), the Finn Jaakko Hänninen and the Italian Andrea Vendrame, AG2R Citroën teammates, were not in the game in the Cantabrian town after their team confirmed their positive.

This seventy-seventh edition of the Spanish race has already started to get busy for the guest team Burgos BH, who had to replace the Spanish Ángel Madrazo as the bell almost sounded for the closing of registration.

The Cantabrian began to give negative results in the tests and some of the mild symptoms he suffered led him to undergo further tests until it was finally confirmed that he would not be able to start the team’s initial time trial in Utrecht.

The team sponsored by the Diputación de Burgos had time to replace the Monegasque Spaniard Víctor Langelotti who, after passing through the Netherlands, successfully defends, for now, the white jersey with blue dots that characterize the head of the mountain and which is invested in the fifth stage in Bilbao.

It was worse for Manuel Peñalver, Madrazo’s partner, who tested positive hours before starting CRE and he did not even wear his team’s purple jersey with the number 198 corresponding to him, leaving his team with only seven members from the start.

After Peñalver, the sprinter with whom the people of Burgos are hoping to get a good partial result, the next to leave the national race are the Belgian Steff Cras (Lotto Soudal) and the Canadian Michael Woods (Israel Premier Tech) , the only two to leave the competition so far due to falls.

He also did not start after testing positive for Czech Jan Hirt (Intermarche Wanty) in the difficult and difficult sixth stage, both due to the hardness of the route and the bad weather conditions in which it took place, ending with the unprecedented Pico Jano.

In addition, contact with cyclists for all parts of the Vuelta caravan is done after passing strict protocols that require passing antigen tests before the start and on each of the three rest days in between of August 19 and September 11.