Despite concerns over the spread of the coronavirus Covid-19 throughout Europe, the Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico, and Milano-Sanremo races in Italy will go ahead as scheduled, race organizer RCS Sport has confirmed.

The Strade Bianche will take place on Saturday, March 7 for both men and women, while the Tirreno Adriatico will take place between the Tuscan and Adriatic coasts from March 11-17. Milan-San Remo will take place on March 21.

Teams typically travel to Siena on Wednesday or Thursday to scout the dirt roads along the route and prepare for the Strade Bianche. The team needed information for staff and vehicles to depart from service tracks in Belgium, Spain, and France.

Paris-Nice is also expected to take place as scheduled, despite France's ban on public gatherings of more than 5,000 people in a limited space.

In Italy, two major outbreaks of coronavirus have occurred in recent weeks in Lombardy, southwest of Milan, and Veneto, near Padua, where more than 1,500 people have tested positive for the virus. Currently 639 people are hospitalized and 140 are in intensive care. Forty-one deaths have occurred, most of them elderly people who were suffering from other diseases.

Although many countries have issued warnings against travel to northern Italy, there have been 13 isolated cases of coronavirus in Tuscany. Italian authorities have allowed major sporting events in Italy, with the exception of northern Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia Romagna. These rules could be lifted or changed next Sunday in order to start Milan-San Remo in the city center.

According to Belgian press reports, RCS Sport confirmed its plans to hold the race to the teams via email Monday morning; RCS Sport added the caveat that the situation could still change as the local Italian health authorities and the Italian government make their final decisions.

Most of the staff of Lombardy-based RCS Sport had been in the United Arab Emirates until today due to the coronavirus scare that forced the Abu Dhabi Sports Council to cancel the final two stages of the UAE tour.

The majority of the race caravan and 16 teams were allowed to leave the country after several days of quarantine and coronavirus testing. However, the Gazprom Rusvelo, Cofidis, and Groupama FDJ teams are still stranded in their hotels due to other suspected positive cases. They are awaiting final test results.

Only UAE Team Emirates opted to stay in the UAE and continue testing due to confirmed cases of influenza within the group and other teams. They will be tested again in the next few days and "once the situation improves, the players and staff will return to their families."

The teams have not yet finalized their participation in the Italian race, but Peter Sagan will join Philippe Gilbert (Lotto Soudal), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Michał Kwiatkowski (Team Ineos), and Wout Van Aert ( Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) were scheduled to return to racing at Strade Bianche.

In Tirreno-Adriatico, Remco Evenpole led the Detunink-Quick Step, with Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos), Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo), and Greg Van Avermaat (CCC Team) also were scheduled to compete.