Cancelling Giro d’Italia and Tour de France due to coronavirus would be a disaster, says UCI president

Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo are among the cancelled races in Italy

The Tour de France is the biggest event in cycling (AFP/Getty Images)

Cancelling the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France would be a disaster for cycling, says Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) president David Lappartient, whose sport has already been badly hit by the coronavirus crisis.

Several races, including the Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo, have been called off as Italy deals with rapidly escalating numbers of infections and deaths.

The Giro d’Italia, the second-biggest race behind the Tour de France, is due to start on 9 May in Budapest, ending in Milan on 31 May. Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Monday all sports events in the country were suspended.

Asked by Reuters about the prospect of the Giro and Tour de France falling victim to the coronavirus crisis, Lappartient said: “That would be a disaster for our sport, of course, if we can’t have the Giro D’Italia or the Tour de France.”

Cycling’s blue-riband event the Tour de France starts in July and Lappartient expressed some optimism that by that time the worst of the coronavirus outbreak may be over.

“Maybe the gap of two months in between [the Giro and Tour de France] will have also some consequences on the virus,” the Frenchman said. “Maybe in summer we hope so, that it will after the summit of the peak, decrease.

“So we hope that these races will be able to take place. But we are, due to the situation in Italy, a little more worried today with the situation with the Giro d’Italia.

“We know what the decision from the Italian government is until 3 April, but who knows what will be the situation after. So there is a potential risk that the Giro can be cancelled.”

The Giro began in 1909 and has been held every year apart from during the two World Wars, while the Tour de France was first held in 1903 and has been contested every year since 1947.

Italy has been severely hit by coronavirus and is second behind China in terms of infections. The number of recorded cases has jumped by 24% over the past 24 hours to 9,172, while the number of deaths rose 26.5% to 463.

France, which recorded its 21st death on Monday, has banned gatherings of more than 1,000 people as the death toll and number of coronavirus infections continued to rise.

The Paris-Nice race is ongoing, but with infections rising in France, Lappartient said there was a danger that race might have to be cancelled or fans barred from watching it.

Reuters