Another three riders sent home from Vuelta a Burgos after contact with someone who has coronavirus

Another three riders have been sent home from the Vuelta a Burgos after contact with someone who has coronavirus.

Sebastian Molano, Cristian Munoz and Camilo Ardila, all from UAE Team Emirates, will not start stage two of the Spanish stage race.

The news emerged after Britain’s Alex Dowsett and one of his Israel Start-Up Nation team-mates missed the start of the race as a coronavirus precaution.

Colombians Molano, Munoz and Ardila have all been isolated and sent home for further testing, UAE Team Emirates has confirmed.

A statement from the team said: “Sebastian Molano, Cristian Munoz and Camilo Ardila will not start the second stage of the Vuelta a Burgos.

“The three Colombian athletes on Saturday had been in recent contact with a person who turned out to be positive at COVID-19 yesterday. Following the protocol of the Team and the UCI, the three riders were isolated, sent home and will all undergo another test.

“All three riders returned two negative tests in the days prior to the race.”

Earlier this week Israel Start-Up Nation confirmed that one of their riders, Omer Goldstein, had tested positive for coronavirus.

While Goldstein wasn’t scheduled to race in Burgos, he had recently been in contact with his compatriot and team-mate Itamar Einhorn who was due to start the race.

Einhorn and Dowsett were both re-tested, along with staff members who were in contact with Einhorn.

But the results did not arrive in time for the start of stage one, which meant both riders had to be pulled from the race.

The results have now confirmed that Einhorn has not contracted coronavirus from Goldstein.

In a statement on Twitter, Dowsett said: “It was a big disappointment that I couldn’t take the start of Vuelta a Burgos today, watching my team-mates heading off wasn’t easy.

“Having unknowingly been in contact with a rider who was in contact with another rider that returned a positive test for coronavirus, the risk of me returning a positive was very slim (and has since come back negative) but in these times there should be zero risk.”

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Dowsett added that he supported and respected the decision to withdraw him from the race.