(Reuters) – Chris Froome and his Ineos team-mates are among those allowed to leave their hotel and return home after the trip to the United Arab Emirates was cancelled following a coronavirus alert, the team announced on Sunday.
The final two stages of the Tour of the United Arab Emirates, which featured some of the world’s riders, were cancelled on Thursday because two Italian participants tested positive for the coronavirus.
Officials said Saturday that the first 167 tests for the virus had come back negative, but there had been no additional updates. About six hundred runners and members of the media were tested.
“All our riders are now leaving the UAE after being given the green light,” Team Ineos posted on Twitter on Sunday, https://twitter. com/TeamINEOS/status/1234025045061705728. “Thank you to everyone who helped us and took care of the team over the last few days. “
Team Jumbo-Visma and Israel-Start Up Nation squad also confirmed that their riders and staff had left the UAE.
Despite being given the green light to return home, the UAE team will extend their stay in Abu Dhabi and return home “only with the protection of non-contagion”.
“In the context of this global emergency, the main goal is the protection of all of us and our family members,” the team from the United Arab Emirates and the United Arab Emirates, funded by the Gulf countries, said in a http://www. uaeteamemirates. com/team. -Greater caution will be maintained-in-the-UAE.
“Given some known cases of flu within our organization and other teams, we will be tested again in the coming days and once the situation improves, runners will return to their families. “
(Reporting via Hardik Vyas in Bangalore; editing by Leslie Adler)
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