Austrian road race champion Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) should have been preparing specifically for the Giro d'Italia at this time of year, had things gone according to plan. Instead, the 28-year-old, like most professional athletes, is staying home without a race in the immediate future, training as much as he can, but ultimately waiting to see when the coronavirus outbreak will subside and things will be closer to normal.

The postponed Giro (which would have been held May 9-31) is rumored to be held as late as October while the UCI continues to rewrite the 2020 calendar and narrow down the most important events in the sport. Conrad finished seventh overall in the 2018 event and was set to be one of Bora-Hansgrohe's leaders in this race.

"In fact, I would have recently flown to a high-altitude training camp to prepare for the Giro via the Tour de Alps," Conrad said on the team website over the weekend. 'Now I have no choice but to make the most of this difficult situation. At the moment I am getting used to the fact that I will have at least two months of rest and then gradually the sporting world will step up a gear again."

"So I'm training more loosely now so that I can be in top form over the summer and fall. There are a lot of postponements this year, so there's a good chance the season will last until November," he said.

Conrad's 2020 season was going very well heading into the Giro, as he finished 13th overall at the shortened UAE Tour in late February, including a 7th place finish on stage 3, which featured one of two summit finishes on the Jebel Hafeet climb. Finish.

The events at the UAE Tour, where the race was canceled with two stages to go, marked the beginning of the coronavirus crisis affecting pro cycling, but Conrad also participated in the Paris-Nice race in March, which proved to be the last major race before the sport closed

"I am very happy to be here.

"It was a complete surprise for all of us. The coach woke us up in the middle of the night and informed us that the race had been canceled," Conrad said of the situation on the UAE Tour.

"Then we had to wait because we didn't know when we would be able to return home. What happened in the following days and weeks turned the whole sporting world upside down and the sport was put on the back burner for a while.

"I can't say I wasn't happy with my form," Conrad admitted of the unfortunate timing of the forced rest. As was the case in Paris-Nice, where I supported [overall winner] Maximilian Schachmann. So of course it's a shame that I can't take advantage of this good form right now."

At home in Austria, Conrad is still fortunate to be one of the professionals who can train outside for yet-unseen future goals.

"As a professional cyclist, I enjoy the time with my family that I rarely see during the season.

"The most important thing," says Conrad, "is not to push myself too hard and to understand this situation as a kind of home training camp." But it is certainly a good time to step away from a rigorous training plan and just have fun."