Three teams withdraw from Tour of Flanders, Marta Bastianelli will not defend title – reports
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ByEurosport
Updated 16/10/2020 at 13:28 GMT
The women's edition of the Tour of Flanders has been hit by a spate of withdrawals with three teams deciding not to compete due to the rising Covid-19 cases.
Marta Bastianelli of Italy and Team Virtu Cycling European Champion Jersey / Celebration / Annemiek Van Vleuten of The Netherlands and Team Mitchelton-Scott / during the 16th Tour of Flanders 2019 - Ronde van Vlaanderen, Women Elite a 159,2km race from Ou
Image credit: Getty Images
Three teams have withdrawn from Sunday’s edition of the Tour of Flanders meaning last year’s winner Marta Bastianelli will not be able to defend her title.
According to a report from Belgian outlet Sporza, Chevalmeire were the first to withdraw after three members of the team tested positive for Covid-19.
"We will not ride the Ronde, because it would be irresponsible to expose our riders and staff members to that risk,” the team is quoted as saying.
“We also have an important social responsibility as a team in preventing further contamination."
Kazakh team Astana also then withdrew followed by Alé BTC Ljubljana, who already missed Gent Wevelgem after a positive test in their camp, so Bastianelli will not be there to try and replicate her performance of last year when she beat Annemiek van Vleuten in a sprint finish.
This comes hot on the heels of the news Swiss team Equipe Paule Ka have withdrawn from racing completely.
There is still a host of big names competing at the Tour of Flanders, including world champion Anna van der Breggen, Lizzie Deignan, Van Vleuten and Elisa Longo Borghini.
At of the time of publication, no men’s teams have withdrawn yet.
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