Sam Bennett heads for Paris-Nice despite coronavirus concerns

Despite the withdrawal of five WorldTour teams from the prestigious Paris-Nice race due to the Covid-19 epidemic, Sam Bennett, his team, and multiple other squads will line out in the event when it begins on Sunday.

Bennett’s Deceuninck-QuickStep team has opted to take to the start, adopting a different approach to the withdrawing CCC Team, Mitchelton-Scott, Astana Pro Team, Team Ineos and UAE Team Emirates. The latter five all indicated in recent days that they would miss both Paris-Nice plus the Italian Tirreno-Adriatico event.

Professional cycling has already been affected by Covid-19, with the final two stages of the recent UAE Tour being abandoned after two staff members from one of the teams came down sick. Those two illnesses were initially reported as positives cases of the virus, although this would later be contradicted. The scare led to teams temporarily being kept in quarantine in their hotels.

Many were allowed to depart Abu Dhabi on Sunday. However the Cofidis, Groupama-FDJ and Gazprom squads were forced to remain in quarantine, while the UAE Team Emirates riders and staff voluntarily stayed put as well. Four riders who were at the race have reportedly tested positive for the virus.

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In recent days a number of teams have announced that they are making changes to their racing programme. Despite a UCI rule requiring WorldTour squads to take part in each of the top-tier events, the five squads mentioned above have opted to withdraw from Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico. In addition to that, Groupama-FDJ, AG2R La Mondiale, EF Pro Cycling and Jumbo-Visma have said they will not ride the latter event due to the escalating scenario with the virus in Italy.

Scrapped

That may prove to be a moot point, as there are indications that the Italian event and the subsequent Milan-San Remo Classic could be scrapped. This Saturday’s scheduled Strade Bianche, which is also organised by the same RCS Sport company, has already been cancelled.

Milan-San Remo was one of Bennett’s key season targets. The coming days will likely determine if the Italian authorities will permit it and Tirreno-Adriatico to go ahead, but that is looking increasingly unlikely. Either way, Bennett will target a strong showing in Paris-Nice. He took one stage there in 2017 and two last season.

He has been in strong form this year, winning one stage in the Santos Tour Down Under, taking two other two-three finishes in the race and netting first in the Race Torquay event.

He and his new Deceuninck-QuickStep team are still perfecting their leadout train. The UAE Tour showed that their collaboration still needs some fine-tuning but, given the team’s strength, once the two are fully in sync, major victories should lie ahead.

Interrupted

Meanwhile, Eddie Dunbar’s own plans for a strong season have been interrupted by Team Ineos’s decision to withdraw from racing for the immediate future. The squad is one of those which cancelled its participation in Paris-Nice. It also indicated this week that it would not be present at Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-San Remo, Nokere Koerse and the Bredene Koksijde Classic.

It said that it would return to racing in the Volta a Catalunya on March 23rd. In addition to the Covid-19 situation, the team also cited the sudden death of directeur sportif Nico Portal on Tuesday as being a factor. The Frenchman died of a heart attack at 40 years of age, shocking the squad and others who knew him. He had cut short his racing career at the end of 2010 due to heart rhythm irregularities.