In recent years, the Sibiu Cycling Tour has been overshadowed by the Tour de France and other races such as the Tour of Austria or the Qinghai Lake Tour taking positions simultaneously. But this year everything is different: all those races have postponed or canceled their 2020 editions, giving the Romanian-level race the prestige of being the first occasion ranked UCI 2.1 to take position since the race was halted in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This state, as well as the participation of the WorldTour Bora-Hansgrohe and Israel Start-Up Nation teams, caught the eye on the race, with the Transylvanian city of Sibiu at the center of world cycling for a few days in July.
Initially scheduled to take a position from July 2 to 5, the race organizers took the resolution in June to postpone the race by 3 weeks in order to wait for the lifting of restrictions and have more time to put into effect all prescribed measures through national health. and the UCI Protocol on COVID-19 Measures, first published on 19 June.
As indicated in the UCI protocol, all groups must perform PCR tests on runners and staff before the race, and each team must complete a symptom questionnaire twice a day, as well as temperature checks performed on the equipment. Hotels.
The race organization distributed tons of race masks, as well as many other single-use masks, to volunteers, racing teams and media. In addition to the measures prescribed through the ICU, other people from the race organization and the media that would possibly come into contact with the runners, adds this author, have also undergone PCR testing.
During the presentation of the team, the runners, the team staff, the media and the staff of the organization had to wear face masks at all times, and spectators were not allowed in the center of the square in the city of Piaa Mare. For the prologue, the requirement that runners and team staff wear a mask relaxed, but all other members of the other racing bubbles still had to hide.
Cosmin Costea, director of the Sibiu Cycling Tour and covid coordinator of COVID-19, has worked hard in recent weeks in close collaboration with the national fitness government and the ICU to explain the procedures and prepare the race in other circumstances, and explained the procedure for a suspected case of coronavirus.
“A PCR check will be carried out on the runner or member. If the control is positive, the affected team, or in all likelihood multiple teams, will be removed from the race, or the race may have to be stopped completely.” Costea said. “The positive runner will have to be admitted to the hospital and his teammates quarantined. But this is the worst case scenario. Now that we have achieved our first purpose of launching the race, I expect a safe, healthy and successful race.” “
The wonderful winner of the prologue, Nikodemus Holler (Bike Aid), gave an example from the point of view of the many continental groups on the starting list: “We have come to Sibiu since 2012, and we seek to resume the race. . The higher the burden of PCR testing for a continental team like us, however, the additional measures, as such, are not as uncommon for us. We ran in Africa or Asia, where we encounter specific situations, and now it has become the same here in Europe.”
The presence of two WorldTour groups on the Sibiu Cycling Tour, a novelty in the Romanian race, can be explained by the group’s preference to spend race days once the races have resumed, but their presence, despite a recent outbreak of COVID-19 cases in Romania, is also a statement of confidence in the organization of the race.
“In our team, we have implemented the UCI protocol as well as our internal measures,” explained israel’s Start-Up Nation sports director René Andrle. “Everyone on the team tried it on Saturday before going to Romania.
“I think the stage is well controlled through the organizer, so we don’t feel worried about that. This is an unprecedented scenario for everyone, but we have no reservations about the race in Sibiu,” he said.
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