Happy Birthday America, Don’t Race Your Bike

Happy Fourth of July to the Americans! Cycling is celebrating America’s contributions to the sport (?!) in a variety of ways, all of which largely amount to “please stay home and don’t bother racing.”

The USA’s commitment to making its stock market line go up has had the unforeseen consequence of also making another line go up: COVID-19 cases. By, er, quite a lot actually.

And now a travel ban is in place across large parts of Europe, preventing US cyclists from returning to the continent for racing. One of our favorite interviewees from the old days, Larry Warbasse, says it’s not a big deal due to so many US cyclists living in Europe for most of the year and being on long-term visas, but Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider Ian Garrison was turned away at the airport on his attempt to return to his team as the season resumed. It’s clear that travel will be difficult, or impossible, for some riders.

It’s not just a travel ban: the UCI has canceled its Cyclo-cross World Cup round in the US. That’s an event that was due to take place all the way out in October. And even US cycling is getting in on the fun, canceling the US nationals for road, track and MTB.

So no cycling for our US pros. But they can at least still go to Olive Garden.