The cyclists, who came to run the Tour of the Emirates, had been confined to their hotel for ten days after the discovery of cases of coronavirus on their floor.
They will be able to get back on their bikes. The riders of the French cycling teams Cofidis and Groupama-FDJ, confined to a hotel in the Emirates for ten days because of the epidemic of new coronavirus, announced Sunday, March 8, the end of their quarantine. This placement in quarantine was decided after the revelation of several positive cases to Covid-19 which had led to the cancellation of the last two stages of the Tour of the Emirates (UAE Tour).
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If the great majority of the competitors of the test had been able to leave the country in the following three or four days, following negative tests, the discovery of new cases had led the authorities to confine the formations present on the floor of the hotel where the infected people lived.
“We’re going back home !” reacted Arnaud Démare without specifying the exact date of the return. Picard is one of the four riders of the Groupama-FDJ team present on the spot with David Gaudu, the Dutchman Ramon Sinkeldam and the Lithuanian Ignatas Konovalovas.
On his Instagram account, the sprinter authorized himself a “dance of joy” to celebrate the event.
“Thank you so much to everyone who worked day and night to anticipate the return”, reacted for his part Cédric Vasseur, general manager of the Cofidis team, about the people of his training retained on the spot. The riders and the management of the teams concerned, whose initial results were negative, recently passed new tests. The report was awaited these last hours.
Initially, the quarantine measure was to last until March 14. The day before this decision, the United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Health had announced the appearance in the country of six additional cases of new coronavirus, “linked” to the two cases which motivated the interruption of the Tour of the Emirates cycling race.
