The Corona continues to disrupt the early plans of the cycling world. Following the cancellation of the San Juan Tour in Argentina, Chris Fromm is set to make his debut at Startup Nation on the Gulf roads, in a UAE column to be held from February 21 to February 27. This is what the sports channel learned tonight (Tuesday).
The British rider, who plans to return to the Tour de France for the first time since 2018, was due to open his European racing year in the Portuguese Algarve Tour during February, but according to the special plan prepared for him by the startup’s performance manager, Paolo Saldania, it will not materialize.
Following the column of the Emirates, which is considered relatively flat, Fromm is scheduled to take part in the Tirno-Adriatico race (10.3-16.3) in which he has participated several times in the past. Only a week of rest will separate the Italian column from the column of Catalonia (22.3-28.3) in which he will participate. The Spanish race is considered mountainous and would be an excellent indication of his fitness, almost three months before the Tour de France.
During April the Belgian classics take place and at the moment it is not clear whether Fromm will participate in one of them, as one-day races are not the cup of tea for Grand Tourists of this magnitude. However, it is not inconceivable that we will see Fromm injured in Liege-Baston-Liege, as has already happened in the past. In any case, Fromm plans to line up for the starting line of the Criterion Dupina (30.5-6.6) the ultimate preparation race before the Tour de France. In this competition held in the French Alps, Fromm has won three times in the past.
Fromm is currently in California at the Red Bull Training Complex for elite athletes and is working full time to get back to his good fitness before the serious injury in Dupina 2019. According to early plans, assuming the Corona does not stand in his way, the legendary rider should arrive with 30 days of racing before the Tour de France on June 26 in the city of Brest in northwestern France. His goal will of course, with the help of the Israeli team, achieve a fifth personal win in the prestigious race in the world.
