The initial list of the elite women’s road race at the Dutch National Championships was affected, as Inge van der Heijden tested positive for coronavirus before the race.
According to NOS, former U23 cyclocross world champion, who recently switched from CCC-Liv to Team 777, has no symptoms.
Positive control in turn eliminated two other runners from Saturday’s race, teammates Yara Kastelijn and Aniek van Alphen, who had raced with van der Heijden in a race prior to the week.’ In addition, the sporting director Camiel van den Bergh, who led the reconnaissance, will not be in the team car the race.
The race also lost to a fourth cyclist when Mascha Mulder (Hens-Maes Containers Group) announced that it would not be initiated due to contact with a positive person. The 26-year-old tested negative twice in accordance with pre-race fitness regulations, but was not initiated as a precautionary measure.
“After two negative tests, everything is fine to begin with. But last night I was on the phone saying that after the test on Wednesday, I was contacted by someone who had tested positive,” he said.
“After consulting the team and our own advice, we should not begin as a precaution and stick to the guidelines.”
The Dutch women’s route race takes place on Saturday afternoon, on a 124.1-kilometre course consisting of 17 laps of a 7.3 km circuit, with the VAM-berg climb.
The peloton is solid, with current world champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott), former world champion Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans) and former world champion Marianne Vos (CCC-Live) among the favorites. 2019 Dutch champion Lorena Wiebes is here for her name on her first appearance with Team Sunweb.
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