Giro d’Covid (SPOILERS)

[jimoots]

Originally Posted by Matthew

I've watched plenty of stage racing. I know about the "razors edge" these athletes live on. I also read the original post that mentioned absolutely nothing about any symptoms. In fact it did mention he won two stages and the leaders jersey for four stages, all in one week. Forgive me for not knowing his stage 8 and 9 results. Remco himself said it was a routine test given by the team. I guess I should have researched the post race interviews and various cycling sites before commenting. And "ragebaited" into commenting on covid? Really? I don't see much rage in my original post. Had covid once myself. Next door neighbor died from it. Just didn't think they were testing still as it appeared much of the world had started to move on from it. I was right about it not being a popular viewpoint.

Yes, you were correct to expect that throwing out an unsubstantiated theory to a group of passionate cycling/racing fans would be vigorously rebuffed.

[Matthew]

What unsubstantiated theory did I throw out?

[Bruce K]

How did we manage 14 pages on the debt ceiling and can’t get past 2 on this topic?

Please stick to facts and even opinions but no politics and no name calling.

We, as a community can discuss this stuff appropriately when we really want to.

Sad he had to withdraw but Team protocols are what I read as the reason and that is it for me. The team believes Covid is still a risk to its goals, people, assets, etc so they have established ways to ensure their best results.

BK

[Nomadmax]

Here's a plain fact, Remco wasn't going to win the Giro with covid, so I would have pulled him too. No sense in squandering chances at future victories this season.

[Elefantino]

Here's a thought: Remco nearly broke himself in half at Il Lombardia in 2020. He has come back pretty well. The kid is nothing if not resilient.

In the meantime, with my VG team destroyed, I'm rooting for the man in white shades. Go, G!

[mcteague]

Originally Posted by Elefantino

Here's a thought: Remco nearly broke himself in half at Il Lombardia in 2020. He has come back pretty well. The kid is nothing if not resilient.

In the meantime, with my VG team destroyed, I'm rooting for the man in white shades. Go, G!

Me too! I think lots of folks have written him off as a one tour wonder. Fingers crossed!

Tim

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Matthew

Probably unpopular here, but still testing for covid? He says it was a routine test. Probably has no symptoms. Shame he has to abandon the race for this.

But can still infect others..and COVID hasn't gone away and is still deadly.

Covid is officially over, and it never was much especially with regards to a healthy person. Shame on the Tour for making him drop out. What a crock.

Hmm, where did ya read that?

Not quite apples to apples (pro athletes vs US veterans), but in this study, the mortality rate for COVID continues to outpace that of seasonal influenza.

Reality, what a concept. I don't think it's the fact that the racer tested positive but rather that it's still very contagious and still deadly.

Good post Baron....spot on..

[NHAero]

I'm hoping Keith won't kill this as a political post.

This study using VA data in Nature show the increased risk from a COVID 19 re-infection. The study uses data from close to 500,000 cases, of which 40,000 are re-infection cases, and over 5,000,000 uninfected people as a control.

TL;DR - getting this disease messes up quite a lot of people long term - it's still worth protecting yourself.

[mcteague]

Good that they are thinking about long term issues with COVID.


https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/lef...with-covid-19/

Lefevere’s insistence that there should be no risks taken by teams when a rider tests positive was echoed in comments by long-standing Soudal-QuickStep doctor Yvon van Mol had a few months ago.
L’Equipe newspaper quoted the team doctor as saying that COVID-19’s potential for leaving long-term effects and the lack of in depth knowledge about it, given the virus recent appearance, meant that it was better to be safe than sorry.

“We don’t know the consequences for their cardiac system, and our job as doctors is to prevent riders with COVID-19 from racing,” he said.

“We don’t have enough of a [long-term] perspective to be sure that won’t have an effect on their health. It’s a precaution.”

Tim

[nooneline]

FWIW, I'm a (former) national-level racer with some modest international racing experience, have been ranked in the top ten (in UCI points) for my country in my discipline, generally healthy, and a "mild" covid case over a year ago has left me not only unable to race and train but also generally debilitated after even mild day to day activities like walking or grocery shopping. I can't even go for an easy ride without getting messed up for days.

My experience is not unusual. Took months before there as an available appointment with long covid specialist. "Covid isn't a concern for a healthy person" is absolute nonsense. It's not hard to find stories of professional athletes who've had to retire because of situations similar to mine. Obviously someone whose future depends on their aerobic system would take all precautions if they had an ounce of sense - and same too for a team thinking about their long-term investment in a rider's results and thus health.

[fried bake]

Originally Posted by Baron Blubba

I sell bikes for a living. In the summer of 2020, I coincidentally sold bikes to a few seemingly healthy people who coincidentally died before ever getting a chance to ride them. My healthy grandmother also coincidentally declinec and died over the course of two weeks that summer. Likewise, several of my very athletic peers decided to compound that coincidence by dying, while others who were not quite so dedicated to perpetrating the propaganda decided to merely coincidentally severely debilitate their extreme athletic health to a sub geriatric level. In a further effort to propagate the government’s scamdemic conspiracy, which is clearly also a shabbily disguised bid for world domination by wealthy Jewish bankers and an excuse to change the batteries in all the world’s spy drones—whoops I mean birds!— at least a half dozen people I knew personally volunteered to abandon their mortal coil, wives, and kids in favor of whatever rewards await them on the other side.

I agree with you: What a crock.

Apart from the comment that generated this response, this is awful to read. I genuinely feel for you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by nooneline

FWIW, I'm a (former) national-level racer with some modest international racing experience, have been ranked in the top ten (in UCI points) for my country in my discipline, generally healthy, and a "mild" covid case over a year ago has left me not only unable to race and train but also generally debilitated after even mild day to day activities like walking or grocery shopping. I can't even go for an easy ride without getting messed up for days.

My experience is not unusual. Took months before there as an available appointment with long covid specialist. "Covid isn't a concern for a healthy person" is absolute nonsense. It's not hard to find stories of professional athletes who've had to retire because of situations similar to mine. Obviously someone whose future depends on their aerobic system would take all precautions if they had an ounce of sense - and same too for a team thinking about their long-term investment in a rider's results and thus health.

Sorry to hear about your experience (as well as others who had bad experiences with covid).

Personally, I had a mild case of covid. I had no long-term complications, and minimal discomfort while I was sick... but still, for about 10 days, I was really, really fatigued. I could sit on the couch or lie in bed and feel fine, but walking around wore me out very quickly. Some time around day 8, I think, I tried getting on my bike, and could only muster about 10 miles.

Even for a mild case with no complications, I still couldn't perform anywhere close to my potential. Even from a purely sporting perspective, without reard for the broader health implications of covid, I think it made a lot of sense to pull Remco rather than leave him in there to struggle and fail, and then just pull him out of the race a few days later anyway.

[fignon's barber]

You can't believe anything you read, or see, when it comes to pro cycling. My guess is Remco abandoning was preplanned 2 weeks ago when Pog went down. They smelled a chance at a Le Tour win and used the Giro for training. No way Lefevre is giving his rider a "voluntary" COVID test when he's going to win the Giro otherwise.

[rain dogs]

Originally Posted by mcteague

Good that they are thinking about long term issues with COVID.


https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/lef...with-covid-19/

Lefevere’s insistence that there should be no risks taken by teams when a rider tests positive was echoed in comments by long-standing Soudal-QuickStep doctor Yvon van Mol had a few months ago.
L’Equipe newspaper quoted the team doctor as saying that COVID-19’s potential for leaving long-term effects and the lack of in depth knowledge about it, given the virus recent appearance, meant that it was better to be safe than sorry.

“We don’t know the consequences for their cardiac system, and our job as doctors is to prevent riders with COVID-19 from racing,” he said.

“We don’t have enough of a [long-term] perspective to be sure that won’t have an effect on their health. It’s a precaution.”

Tim

+1000

[trener1]

If one follows racing (not saying that you have to, but if you are gong to comment one assumes that you have some knowledge of the pro ranks).

The Covid situation has been in the news pretty regularly the last 2-3 weeks, Jumbo had to replace 3 or 4 (you read that right) of their 8 rider Giro team just days before the race so that's a 40%-50% covid rate.
Filippo Gana had to leave the race a couple of days ago due to being infected, so these are some very high profile covid situations.
Whatever one thinks about Covid, it has been very much in the cycling news the last 2-3 weeks, so Remco's case didn't just pop out of the blue.

As for Covid and Quick Step, again if you follow pro cycling, Tim Decqlercq famously had to miss the whole spring classics last year because he came back from Covid too soon and then developed problems with his lungs etc... and had to take a long time off the bike to let it all heal