The UAE Team Emirates medical staff is aware that the battle to contain COVID-19 in the 2022 Tour de France will be a tough one, despite the team's meticulous attention to detail.

However, Adriano Rotunno, head doctor of the UAE team, was also critical of the fact that Tour de France spectators were allowed to get closer to the team buses than in the previous two pandemic years.

For the first time since 2020, team buses are strictly closed in the paddock at the start except for media and some VIPs, but are more accessible at the finish than before.

Asked at the start of stage 9 by a small group of reporters, including Cycling News, about the relative proximity of fans that morning, Rotunno said, "This is an example of how race organization does not make it easy for us. We are all doing our part, but trying to mitigate the risk from exposure is difficult."

He also noted that "it is difficult because in these races [the public] does not wear masks and we are among the public."

UAE Team Emirates lost one of its support riders on Friday when Vegard Stake Rengen tested positive for COVID-19 and did not start.

"He complained of symptoms in the middle of the night the day before, tested negative that day, but tested positive the next morning.

The testing process "depends on the day. Half the time in the morning, the other half in the evening, sometimes all at once, but usually in the morning."

Rotunno confirmed that the measures already in place at UAE Team Emirates have been strengthened across the board, and on Friday sporting director Joxean Fernandez Mazin said the players were spending time in separate rooms with different soigneurs.

In an interview with Cycling News in 2020, UAE performance coordinator Jeroen Swart said, "We have created a 40-page protocol. It is evidence-based and aims to guide athletes and staff in all their activities."

The UAE has also developed a "performance protocol" that is "a very important part of the UAE's performance strategy.

In this protocol, which was formulated a month before or even before the tool, Swart examined various research documents and measures from other sports, especially soccer, and also introduced his own research and conclusions into the protocol.

"We do everything from typical measures, which everyone knows about, such as masks and hand sanitizers in multiple locations on buses and in cars, to special measures, such as installing air filtration equipment in buses to remove viruses and other contamination," Swart said at the time.

"There are all kinds of other protocols that are done on a daily basis, from how to manage food preparation to massages.

"PCR before the bubble, testing to make the bubble before everyone comes in, that's with the internal testing," Rotunno added. [It's mandatory masks, hand hygiene, social distancing, no signs, etc., no socializing outside the bubble. It's about maintaining distance and hygiene."

Regarding the inspection itself, an important line of defense, Rotunno said, "We inspect all staff and all riders every day or every two days. Our main concern is the health of the riders and we cannot allow riders in poor physical condition to participate in the Grand Tour.

"For us, it is important to follow protocol and if we get a positive result, it is like a roll call for us and we have to deal with the situation.

On how the anti-COVID-19 bubble works, he explained. 'Every team can only fit 30 people in the bubble, so that means eight riders and 22 staff. It is a painstaking process to constantly test everyone, but that is our job, and this is how we found out yesterday [Friday] that the first positive case was found."

He warned that the process of testing, protocols, and checks is the main barrier that prevents the virus from causing more damage.

"If we can mitigate the risk and limit the damage and exposure, ultimately that's good enough.

In any case, the critical question for UAE Team Emirates is, as one reporter asked, how much risk COVID-19 represents for Pogachar.

"As much as any other player," Rotunno replied. 'But unfortunately a virus is a virus. But it's very difficult