Cycling's coronavirus crisis – Podcast featuring Vaughters and Matt White
Journalists' inside story from the UAE Tour
As you might expect this podcast solely focuses on the Covid-19 coronavirus and its effect on professional cycling.
We're going to hear from team bosses Jonathan Vaughters and Matt White, as well as our European Editor Stephen Farrand, who lives in Italy, and Sophie Smith, who made it home from the UAE and is safely back in Australia.
But we start with Stephen Farrand and we discuss the impact of coronavirus on the Italian race scene and how teams and the Italian public at large are struggling to cope. This was recorded just a few hours after RCS announced that Strade Bianche would not take place this weekend.
Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo postponed due to coronavirus
RCS Sport cancels Strade Bianche in light of coronavirus measures
Coronavirus: ASO and teams make Paris-Nice adjustments after Italian race cancellations
What is the Covid-19 coronavirus and how might it continue to affect professional cycling?
Our interview with Jonathan Vaughters from EF Pro Cycling was conducted on Thursday evening but Paris-Nice was set to go ahead and EF were down to ride.
Vaughters talks about how teams are trying to understand the quickly evolving situation and the various playbook scenarios they are having to consider when it comes to race selection, rosters and riders' health.
Matt White’s Mitchelton-Scott team was one of the first to announce that their men’s and women’s teams would be halting all racing with immediate effect. That as before Strade Bianche was cancelled. In this interview, White talks about the wellbeing of his riders, and the logistical stresses put on a team. He uses the example of the recent developments at the UAE Tour as an example.
Finally, we hear from Australian journalist Sophie Smith on the dramatic twists that took place at the UAE Tour last week. Some teams and riders are still stuck in the UAE and will be there until mid-March but the situation for around 72 hours was fraught and tense, to say the least. In this interview with Smith, we take you through how the situation unfolded.
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