Story By: Juan Mayes, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Golder’s News And Sport
This cycling director has said he will go on hunger strike as his team are under lockdown and being forced to stay in Abu Dhabi after the UAE Tour was cancelled due to the coronavirus.
Cofidis cycling team director Roberto Damiani, 60, made the comments in a statement he sent to Italian news site ‘tuttobiciweb’ where he expressed his anger over being confined to a hotel in Abu Dhabi the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
His team has been forced to remain in quarantine over fears of spreading the coronavirus, officially named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization, despite his team reportedly not showing symptoms of the virus.
The statement read: “I think we are already passed the point of decency, even if it is in the name of public safety and the danger of contamination.
“Everyone knows the incidents from the last days but only the members of three teams have been forced to remain in their rooms over fears of a coronavirus infection since in two teams they had three people with a fever.”
Damiani is referring to the recent cancellation of the UAE Tour after two mechanics of the UAE Emirates Team reportedly tested positive for the virus.
Athletes and journalists got permission to leave Abu Dhabi after their medical tests came back negative for the virus.
Local media report four teams remain at a hotel in the city including Cofidis.
He went on to say: “I want to make it clear that the Cofidis team has not had the slightest problem and we are confined here only because we were in rooms on the same fourth floor of the hotel with the other two teams.
“The company organising the race, RCS (the same one that organises the Giro de Italia) is doing everything they can to resolve the problem, but their members keep hitting a wall.
“I am informing that if in the next hours the situation is not unblocked, I will start a hunger strike to defend the cyclists and directors of the team present here.”
Damiani made the statement Sunday 1st March however it is unclear if the Italian director is carrying out the hunger strike.
Groupama cyclist Arnaud Demare reportedly said: “The rooms are not cleaned and waste accumulates in the hallways” describing the difficult situation the teams are going through.
There have been a reported 92,165 worldwide cases which have lead to 3,127 deaths.
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