"We're going crazy here. The view of Abu Dhabi from his room on the fourth floor of the Crowne Plaza tires Stéphane Rossetto. Since Thursday evening, the rider of the Cofidis group has not been allowed to leave the establishment where he and the other participants of the Tour of the Arab Emirates (UAE Tour) took up residence on Thursday. In the evening, the organization of the event claimed to have found two cases positive for coronavirus concerning "two members of the Italian staff of one of the teams participating in the event".
Since then, the International Cycling Union has only spoken of "suspicion". "Two guys had a fever, they panicked and it fell on us, plague one of the hosts of the last Tour de France. We are dependent on people who don't give a damn about us. We meet pretty unpleasant people, in white coats, sunglasses and headphones in our ears who decide our fate. We come to run their rotten race on uninteresting courses and that's what we end up with. "
Friday, the whole peloton was summoned at dawn for a first test. "We put a kind of cotton swab in our nose, we spin a bit and then go to a laboratory," explains Rossetto. And we are waiting during this time. "
And the Cofidis team more than others. If the Ineos of Christopher Froome or the Movistar of Valverde had the green light to leave the place on Sunday, three teams are still confined to the establishment: the French formations Cofidis and Groupama-FDJ and the Russians of Gazprom. Because of a new suspicion of a positive case of the virus in this famous fourth floor where these teams are installed. On Sunday evening, these runners and the coaching staff left for a new test.
"We ate at the same restaurant and took the same elevator as those who left, it's nonsense this decision," regrets Stéphane Rossetto. On social networks, the last residents of what has become a "ghost hotel" according to the runner share their dismay, like the lieutenant of Thibaut Pinot on the last Great Loop, David Gaudu.
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Others try to kill time as best they can. The Picard Arnaud Démare published on Monday morning a video showing his Dutch room partner Ramon Sinkeldam vacuuming the room. Before improvising a small exercise session.
4th morning. It's starting to be a bit of a mess ... 😂 #UAETour pic.twitter.com/CFv3ZtveJi
- Mathilde L'Azou (@MathildeLAzou) March 2, 2020"We read, we give news to our loved ones, we listen to music, we try to kill time as we can," summarizes Stéphane Rossetto. But during this time, we de-train, we mine mentally and that will weigh on the rest of our program for the season. I have to race the Tour of Catalonia in three weeks and I already know that I will not arrive in the form I wanted. "
On the fourth floor, we especially hope that the results of the second test will fall quickly so that we can then leave the Emirates. Logically, the riders and the coaching staff must be fixed this Monday during the day. "Morale decreases and the tension goes up a notch, summarizes a member of the staff of one of the blocked teams. We have the feeling of being taken a little by boat and staying here for nothing. "