Home » Sport » Giro boss Vegni lashes out at De Gendt: “He must be careful” | NOW

Giro boss Vegni lashes out at De Gendt: “He must be careful” | NOW

Giro boss Mauro Vegni is not pleased with Thomas De Gendt’s statements about the alleged insecurity in the Tour of Italy. The Belgian said on Thursday that he felt that the organization was withholding information.

“I called his team manager during the ride and I told him that De Gendt must be careful if he says anything”, Vegni told Friday. Cyclingnews. “If you say that we may be concealing results, then that is a very serious statement. International health is at stake.”

“I respect the riders and their fears”, the Italian continues. “But there has also been incorrect behavior in the team bubbles, although I will not go into that further.”

De Gendt indicated on Thursday that his head was no longer focused on races now that there were so many positive corona cases in the Giro and that he felt unsafe. It was previously announced that seventeen motorcycle police officers who worked in the Italian cycling round had tested positive on Monday and went home.

“My head is not really on course after the news of the seventeen infected officers,” said De Gendt. “We discussed for 20 minutes with the riders in the team whether or not to start, because we are starting to feel unsafe. It is going in the wrong direction. I have the feeling that the organization is hiding things.”




Thomas De Gendt is seriously concerned about safety in the Giro. (Photo: Pro Shots)

‘Do not understand why Giro should be viewed differently’

Vegni also defended his position not to end the Giro prematurely. “We use the same measures as in other races. I do not understand why the Giro should be viewed differently.”

He thus responded to EF Pro Cycling’s request to stop the Italian cycling round next Sunday at the end of the second week. That was rejected by the international cycling union UCI on Thursday.

“We had eight positive cases on the first day of rest last Monday. But how many infections were there in other places? It’s October and the numbers are rising. In Italy there were 9,000 cases on Thursday.”

During the Giro, top favorites Steven Kruijswijk and Simon Yates, among others, tested positive for the virus. Their teams Jumbo-Visma and Mitchelton-SCOTT later withdrew.

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