UAE Team Emirates' Davide Formolo and Chief Operating Officer Andrea Agostini revealed the mental struggles they faced during their quarantine in the UAE after the coronavirus Covid-19 spread to parts of the team on the last day of their UAE tour in late February.

Formolo was quarantined in a UAE hotel for 15 days but never tested positive and was eventually allowed to return to Monaco, his European base. Agostini is still in the UAE with Fernando Gaviria, awaiting a flight back to Italy after spending 23 days in a UAE hospital after testing positive for Covid 19. On Monday, 38-year-old team osteopath Dario Marini revealed that he had been in intensive care in the UAE for nine days.

In a moving first-person testimony published in La Gazzetta dello Sport (opens in new tab), Agostini confirmed that eight of the UAE Team Emirates players and staff who participated in the UAE tour have tested positive for Covid-19. Other players and staff from the Gazprom Rusvelo team also tested positive, forcing many of the team to stay in quarantine after the rest of the UAE tour caravan was allowed to return home.

"I was in the hospital for 23 days and in complete isolation for 20 days, waiting for the tests to come back negative," explained Agostini.

"I was racing as an amateur with Marco Pantani. Cyclists learn to suffer, but when you are in the hospital and the doctors and nurses come to visit you dressed as if you were going to Mars, everything in your life changes; when you see your friend, no more than 40 years old, in intensive care, on the verge of being put on a ventilator, you ask yourself what is going on.

"I didn't feel sick, I could ride my bike, go for a run. But that's why no one should underestimate the coronavirus. Eight people on the team tested positive, and in my case it was the second test that confirmed the positive result. The director, Mauro Gianetti, was like a brother. He was aware of the danger we were all facing, even if the tests were positive, because most of the players had no symptoms. Thanks to him, a catastrophe could have been avoided.

"I waited for 12 tests in 26 days, two negative within 24 hours. I kept hoping it would come back negative, but it never did. I was quarantined because there were still molecules of the virus in my DNA. The only people I could see behind my mask and protective gear were the medical staff. I tried to make eye contact with the doctors and nurses to find hope."

Agostini was treated at the Cleveland Clinic in Abu Dhabi, where he had a bicycle in his room so he could ride rollers. He spoke via Skype with his wife Francesca, a nurse at Cesenatico Hospital, who admitted that he was suffering in isolation, far from home.

"I suffered emotionally. At certain moments, it was painful to even talk. Loneliness is very painful. You have to wait, but you don't know when it will end. I had panic attacks and had trouble breathing. I am still scared. And even now that I have recovered, Fernando Gaviria and I are still waiting for our flight home from Abu Dhabi, but we are still keeping our distance."

Formolo was able to return home fairly quickly after being quarantined in a UAE hotel for 15 days. His mother-in-law works in the pulmonary ward of a Verona hospital and has first-hand experience of the struggle to save the most severe Covid-19 patients.

"She is on the front lines, so she knows how hard the fight is. That's why we gladly support Mario Cipollini, Gianni Bugno, and La Gazzetta dello Sport's idea of a virtual ride in Italy to raise much needed funds for Easter. Pro cyclists are always ready to help, and I know what happened in the UAE changed me," Formolo said in an interview.

"After the fifth stage of the UAE Tour, we did the first tests and everyone tested negative. And the second test was positive for some of us. We all got scared and realized it was much more serious than just a bike race."

Formolo never tested positive, but was placed in a hotel in the UAE for the required quarantine period.

Formolo never tested positive, but was quarantined in a hotel in the UAE for the required quarantine period. Although he was able to train on the rollerblades, he suffered from seeing what was happening in Italy, especially in Bergamo, one of the hardest-hit cities in northern Italy.

"We often focus on our sport and are competitive by nature. But when we see so many things on TV, we realize that other things in life are important too. Doctors and nurses on the front lines cannot just stay home because they have to fight the coronavirus.

"It was good that we got through it as a team. It was a real shame that Diego Ulissi could not be there for the birth of our daughter Anna, but he shared the emotion of the birth with all of us.

Strict regulations in France prevent outdoor training, so Formolo rides rollers, does gym work, and practices baking.

"I'm a master chef now and I like to make new things, including bread," he revealed.

"Riding rollers is a little more challenging. I can't do something like climbing at 300 watts outdoors."

Formolo is trying to stay fit and is close to his racing weight.

"How can I think about racing again when I see the military trucks hauling away the coffins?" he asked, trying to find a silver lining to a long season that may last until November.

"Racing through November is definitely better than having a long training camp in December."

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