Peter Sagan, Daniel Oss, Elia Viviani, Nicolas Roche, Alessandro De Marchi, and other riders enjoyed their first outdoor ride in nearly two months after the strict COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in Italy, Spain, Monaco, and Andorra on Monday. The riders enjoyed.

While riders in Belgium, the Netherlands, the United States, and the United Kingdom were allowed to train outdoors during the first few months of the COVID-19 epidemic, most others were forced to train indoors with home trainers.

Italy eased its national blockade on Monday, and Spain gave professional athletes special permission to train outdoors after setting times when the public could exercise outdoors. Andorra followed Spain's decision, much to the delight of many professional athletes who had been holed up in the small Pyrenean country.

Monaco allowed outdoor sports, but French riders had to wait until May 11 for the restrictions to end and normal training to resume. Racing will not resume until at least August 1, and with the Tour de France scheduled for August 29-September 20, riders will have about 12 weeks to work on their form. Most athletes are running to maintain their basic fitness and weight while building their core strength.

Chris Froome (Team Ineos) and Michael Woods (EF Pro Cycling), among others, have used this lockdown to recover from injuries, with Froome completing his rehabilitation after a bad crash at the 2019 Criterium du Dauphiné with a personal He has spent many hours in his home trainer and in the gym in his personal pain cave. Woods crashed on stage 5 of Paris-Nice and broke his femur, but has resumed riding on his home trainer.

Sagan competed in Paris-Nice, but has kept a low profile since early March to honor the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cycling is allowed in Monaco, so he went out for a ride on Monday with the words "Why so serious" written on what looked like a homemade face mask. Sagan was forced to remain in the principality because France is under a tight blockade.

"Today is my first day to ride my bike in Monaco and I can't wait to pedal for the first time in 7 weeks. Outside ...... Wow! So stay well.

Nicolas Roche was also based in Monaco and enjoyed several virtual races during the closure. He is waiting for the French blockade to end on May 11 and is enjoying a long ride in the south of France.

"So today I can get out on the road. Unfortunately, though, only within the principality. I think I'll stick it out on the ergo for another week, seven weeks, so I can hold out for eight weeks. I might go for a walk or two to get a bit of fresh air and learn how to brake," Roche wrote on social media.

Os, a teammate and faithful domestique of Sagan's Beulah Hansgrohe, wrote a funny video diary about his return to outdoor riding and joked that he had forgotten how to ride on the road.

De Marchi was more emotional and nostalgic, revealing in a video that he headed to his favorite climb Chialminis, north of Udine in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of northeastern Italy.

"I had to get back to the 'office' and start here. Enjoy the planet, folks!" the CCC team rider wrote on Instagram.

Elia Viviani (Cofidis), while happy to be riding outdoors again, urged his followers to be wise, as the battle against the COVID-19 virus has not yet been won.

"I am ready to cycle outdoors. Cycling means freedom, the one and only thing we have to cling to, we have to keep using our heads because the fight against COVID-19 is not over," he wrote on social media.