UAE Team Emirates athletes and staff, including Tour de France winner Tadey Pogachar, received the COVID-19 vaccine during a pre-season training camp in the United Arab Emirates.

On Wednesday, a total of 27 staff and 32 players traveled to the UAE to receive the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, which was tested in the UAE in the last month of 2020.

Other COVID-19 vaccines are also being rolled out around the world, but are expected to be administered first to older, more vulnerable patients UAE Team Emirates coach Mauro Gianetti offered to participate in the final Sinopharm trial in the UAE and his team was the first to receive the vaccine vaccinations have been secured and offered to players and staff on a voluntary basis.

"As a team in the UAE, we are very proud of the efforts taken by the nation and its leadership at all levels to fight the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and be leaders in the effort to return life to normal," said team manager Mauro Gianetti. [I would also like to congratulate the UAE and all partners in this program for the excellent work they have done to make this happen.

UAE Team Emirates suffered multiple cases of COVID-19 during their tour of the UAE last February. In particular, Fernando Gaviria contracted the disease and spent a month in isolation. Other players and teams, including Pogachar, also had to live in quarantine in the UAE. Dario Marini, an osteopath, spent nine days in intensive care.

The 2020 season was raced according to a special COVID-19 protocol and protective bubble, and many riders and staff tested positive during frequent testing before and during races; the UCI is expected to extend this protocol through 2021, and teams will be required to hold extensive training camps and international expeditions with caution. Sinopharm could give UAE Team Emirates an advantage and facilitate travel and racing in 2021.

Pogachar showed off the 2020 Tour de France winner's yellow jersey in a promotional photo taken in Dubai on Thursday.

The UAE Team Emirates roster will be strengthened in 2021, with Rafal Mayka joining from Bora Hansgrohe and Matteo Trentin from the CCC team leading the team's classics along with Fernando Gaviria and Alexander Kristoff.

In addition to Criterium du Dauphiné stage winner Davide Formolo, the 2021 UAE Team Emirates will include Davide de la Cruz, who finished seventh in the Vuelta a España, Brandon McNulty, and Mikel Bjarg, Andres Ardila, among other up-and-comers.

Pogachar will make his debut at Challenge Mallorca in 2021 before returning to the UAE for the first race on the World Tour calendar after the Tour Down Under was cancelled.