High attrition rate as illness sweeps through Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico

SAINTSAUVEURDEMONTAGUT FRANCE MARCH 10 LR Owain Doull of United Kingdom and Simon Carr of United Kingdom and Team EF Education Easypost prior to the 80th Paris Nice 2022 Stage 5 a 189km stage from SaintJustSaintRambert to SaintSauveurdeMontagut on ParisNice WorldTour March 10 2022 in SaintSauveurdeMontagut France Photo by Bas CzerwinskiGetty Images
EF Education-EasyPost lost three riders ahead of stage 5 (Image credit: Getty Images)

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has cast a cloud over the season so far, with high infection levels and a constant risk to riders' spring programmes. At Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico this week, riders are indeed falling ill in alarming number, but with respiratory problems that are apparently unrelated to COVID. 

The rate of dropouts at both WorldTour races, but especially Paris-Nice, is striking. 

Patrick Fletcher

Patrick is a freelance sports writer and editor. He’s an NCTJ-accredited journalist with a bachelor’s degree in modern languages (French and Spanish). Patrick worked full-time at Cyclingnews for eight years between 2015 and 2023, latterly as Deputy Editor.