Tokyo Games: COVID-Hit Simon Geschke Out Of Olympic Road Cycling Race
Tokyo Games: German cyclist Simon Geschke has tested positive for coronavirus and has been ruled out of his event in the Olympics.
Highlights
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Cyclist Simon Geschke will miss his road race event
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He tested positive for COVID-19
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The other German cycling members have tested negative
German cyclist Simon Geschke has tested positive for coronavirus and has been ruled out of Saturday's Tokyo Olympics road race, the German Olympic Committee said. The other 12 members of the German cycling team were staying in the same hotel as Geschke but all have tested negative. Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia starts favourite in the 234km race that includes five climbs around Mount Fuji, the highest point in Japan at an altitude of 3,776m (12,388ft). "It is so hard to be taken out of the running so soon before the competition," Geschke, a former Tour de France stage winner, said on Friday.
"I followed all the hygiene rules to the best of my knowledge. I feel good physically, but emotionally this is a very hard day for me."
Pogacar headlines a star-studded peloton that includes 2016 Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet and his Belgian team-mates Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert.