Peter Sagan contracts COVID-19 on training camp
Slovak star and two teammates are currently exhibiting 'mild symptoms' and have been placed in quarantine.
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Peter Sagan has contracted COVID-19 while on training camp in Gran Canaria.
Bora-Hansgrohe revealed Saturday that their Slovak star, his brother Juraj, and teammate Erik Baska tested positive last week and have returned further positive results in subsequent checks. The trio is reported to be “exhibiting mild, general symptoms.”
“For a few weeks now, my brother Juraj, our teammate Erik Baska, and I have been training in Gran Canaria,” Sagan said in a team statement. “On January 29, we had a PCR test done in a local laboratory in order to be able to fly back home. Unfortunately, the results weren’t what we would have hoped for and all three of us tested positive for COVID-19. We are all feeling well but, obviously, since that day, we have remained in quarantine.”
The riders are under remote supervision by team medical staff and will remain in quarantine until further testing gives them the green light.
The news throws a wrench into Sagan’s final preparations for the season, which was due to kick-start at the “opening weekend” of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne at the end of this month.
“The timing is certainly not ideal, but then again, there is no good time to become ill with COVID,” said team manager Ralph Denk. “Peter was – and is – extremely motivated, and that’s why he was already quite far along in his preparatory build-up for the season. But the most important thing now is that all three are well and not displaying any severe symptoms. Our medical department is in very close contact with them, and the care that they are receiving is as optimal as is possible. ”
Sagan, 31, had traveled to Gran Canaria after the Bora-Hansgrohe pre-season camp in Italy last month, where he had sketched out to media his plans to return to a full classics program having skipped marquee cobbled races in 2020.
Denk said that Sagan’s program will be subject to his return to health.
“What this means for the start of the season cannot yet be exactly known,” he said. “First, all three must be fully healthy again and receive medical clearance, and then we can consider what the next steps will be.”
With just three weeks until his scheduled season debut, Sagan is holding out hopes for a rapid recovery.
“Hopefully, our next test results will be negative so that we can resume our normal training schedule as soon as possible,” he said.