Racing the virus

An eight-page document was issued to the Team Jumbo-Visma riders as they headed off for their training camp in Alicante in January. In some detail these pages told the 52 riders and 68 staff members how to wash their hands and how to disinfect the doorknobs of their bedrooms. They were ordered to not shake hands with teammates, to disinfect their airline chair before sitting on it, to not use any pens provided by supporters to sign autographs, and to avoid public toilets.

In the Bonalba Hotel and Spa, which was taken over by the world’s number one ranked team, the Jumbo men’s, women’s and development squads were on different floors, ate in separate parts of the hotel restaurant and even left for training rides at different times. They had their temperature taken every day by a soigneur, and every three days they had a rapid Covid test, conducted by a soigneur or a sports director.

This is one of the consequences of Covid – that the protocols are everybody’s job, not just the medical staff’s. The implications for soigneurs, sports directors and of course riders have been wide-ranging, but in 2020 they seemed largely to work.

‘The training camp