Mitchelton-SCOTT withdraws from racing due to COVID-19

Following extensive discussions, Mitchelton-SCOTT has made the decision to withdraw its teams from the next period of racing, regardless of the individual Government Regulations in place.

The current period of consideration will run from March 4 to 22, 2020, and will include the following races:

• Strade Bianche (men and women)
• GP Industria (men)
• Paris-Nice (men)
• Tirreno-Adriatico (men)
• Ronde van Drenthe (women)
• Danilith Nokere Koerse (women)
• Milan-SanRemo (men)
• Trofeo Alfredo Binda (women) 

Mitchelton-SCOTT’s stated reasons for these withdrawals are listed below: 

• “We, as Team Doctors and the wider team, have a duty of care to protect health and wellbeing of all our riders and staff. We will not have any input into, or control over, the measures that race organisers may or may not put in place to manage the COVID-19 risks.”
• “We are a moving, international logistical puzzle, with staff and riders travelling between different countries with different health systems and strategies around COVID-19. Constant travel will increase the health risks and make management of logistics, potential quarantine periods, etc, extremely difficult.”
• “To withdraw any additional impact we as a team, either via illness or injury, may put on national and international health systems and hospitals.”

“Whilst we have put in all the preparations and are eager to race, as an organisation we believe this is the best way to ensure we adhere to our duty of care to riders and staff, before returning to business as usual as soon as possible.”