the new zealand George Bennettteammate in the UAE of the leader of the Tour de France, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, He did not start the tenth round on Tuesday after testing positive for covidindicated formation.
He was the second rider of the Pogacar team to be forced to leave the raceafter Norwegian Vegard Stake Laengen collapsed on Saturday for the same reason.
The UAE noted that the Polish Rafal Majka was also positive in a test put on him this morning, despite being asymptomatic, but the cyclist was “at low risk of infection”, so he was not excluded from the race.
Australian Luke Durbridge, of the Bike Exchange team, also didn’t start for the same reason.
These two new cases were discovered after the day off on Monday, when the International Cycling Union (UCI) reported that no runner tested positive in the anti-covid test conducted at the end of the ninth round on Sunday.
UAE doctor Adrian Rotunno, indicated that Bennett, one of Pogacar’s supporters for the high mountains, “showed some symptoms on Monday nightTherefore, on the application of the team’s internal protocol, he underwent a test that turned positive, which was also confirmed by PCR, which led to his exclusion from the race.
Bennett and Durbridge were the fourth and fifth riders to fall in the Tour peloton since the race started in Copenhagen the previous day 1.
In addition to Laengen, Frenchmen Geoffrey Bouchard and Guillaume Martin were previously excludedthe latter fourteenth in general, protesting the confusion presented by the protocol put in place by the UCI.
This has adapted to the new rise of cases registered in recent weeks and has led to some 70 runners having to leave the competition on the last Tour of Switzerland.
For this reason, all cyclists pass the tests in Copenhagen and the last two days of rest, this Monday and the next.
At the same time, the teams conduct regular checks on their cyclistswhich shed light on the positives that pushed the five runners to retreat.
The protocol does not impose a direct exclusion of positives, only those considered to have a high infectious rate, something that must be determined jointly by the team physician, organizational physician and UCI physician.
UCI multiplies require caution and note the protective measures, the mask, the safety distance and regular hand washing.
Source: La Verdad
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