Eleven team doctors signed a letter to the UCI and race organizers RCS Sport and ASO requesting the cancellation of the Italian and French races Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-San Remo, and Paris-Nice, but Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad reported Wednesday that Dr. Ivan Van Mol of De Tunink Quickstep was not among the signatories in good conscience.

Although RCS Sport has not yet officially cancelled the Italian spring race (a meeting will be held on Thursday to discuss the issue), it seems likely that it will be rescheduled for June or September, as RCS Sport head Mauro Veni has suggested. In addition, the Italian government has issued a decree calling for the cancellation of all sporting and public events for the next month.

"The Italian government will take advice from experts in the field, who know better than anyone what is possible and what is not. Soccer matches must be played behind closed doors. Everyone knows that the virus is less likely to spread outdoors than in an enclosed space with many people in close proximity to each other, such as a soccer stadium, for example."

The Deceuninck-QuickStep physician also questioned how rigidly his colleagues are trying to control the spread of the virus in other ways.

"In the aftermath of the UAE Tour, did they lock the athletes in their rooms? And what about the Tour de Flanders? Belgium's biggest one-day race is scheduled for April 5. By then, the number of people infected with coronavirus will have increased in Flanders. What should we do then?"