Mauro Vegni vows to push Giro d’Italia to Milano
Giro d'Italia director confirms select teams underwent a new round of controls before start of stage 10.
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Mauro Vegni said a new round of controls initiated overnight will help assure the health of the peloton inside the Giro d’Italia “bubble” despite a slate of positive cases for COVID-19.
Speaking to Italian television before the start of stage 10, the Giro race director said all teams that saw positives among its staffers or riders underwent a new battery of controls.
“This morning all the teams involved in positive cases underwent new rapid tests this morning and we will do the same the day after tomorrow,” Vegni said. “Up to now we have made almost 1,500 riders and frankly it is impossible to do more than this.”
The Giro has been thrown into chaos following a wave of COVID-19 cases, with two riders — Michael Matthews (Sunweb) and Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) — among eight positives that also included staffers from Mitchelton-Scott, Ineos Grenadiers, and Ag2r-La Mondiale. Mitchelton-Scott and Jumbo-Visma have since pulled out their entire teams.
Vegni spoke to RAI before news broke that Jumbo-Visma decided to leave, and said that the goal remains to bring the Giro to Milano.
“Losing a team is a sorrow and a regret, but by mutual agreement with the staff of Mitchelton-Scott, we made the most correct decision also from an ethical point of view,” Vegni said. “For all of us, the goal remains to arrive in Milan. We are doing everything possible to pull off this Giro in October, and to bring it to conclusion with dignity and fairness.
“Our effort continues to be to keep the situation under control,” Vegni said. “The next day of rest we will all undergo new molecular PCR swabs as per UCI protocol, but we want to do more.”