In a wide-ranging interview with Belgian media this week, UCI President David Lapartient answered many questions about the coronavirus, rider safety, and the special Palace jersey of EF Pro Cycling.

Perhaps the most pressing of these topics is the worsening of the COVID-19 crisis in Europe and the corresponding deterioration of the situation in cycling. Paris-Roubaix was cancelled, the Tour de Flanders was held on Sunday, and various safety measures were put in place to combat the virus.

French riders have already visited the Giro and will participate in Sunday's Tour de Flanders.

"We want to visit the major cycling countries," Lapartiento told Het Nieuwsblad on Wednesday. 'Of course I would like to see the Tour de Flanders with thousands of supporters along the way, but it is better to have a race than not to have one. It is very important for our sport to have an event like the Ronde, and I would like to thank the Belgian authorities for allowing it to take place."

Paris-Roubaix (the men's edition and the inaugural women's race) was scheduled to take place on October 25, but due to the COVID-19 situation in France, the event was postponed.

"I spoke with [Roubaix and Tour de France director] Christian Prudhomme about Roubaix. 'Apparently the province of Lunol can do nothing more. The current number of infected people is so far above all thresholds that it was impossible to organize the race.

"But that doesn't mean that the French authorities are anti-cycling, as they have been in favor of many at this year's Tour de France.

Regarding the continuation of the Giro, and the Vuelta starting Tuesday, Lapartiento continued: "At the Tour, out of 2,800 tests, there were four positive tests. In the Tour, 4 out of 2,800 were positive. In the Giro, 3 out of 176 were positive for coronavirus.

"These percentages are much lower than in other parts of society. There are areas in France where currently 17 percent of tests are positive," he claimed.

"The efforts that cycling has made are bearing fruit. But the danger is still there. If we want to host the Vuelta, we will have to tighten the protocols even more, because Spain has been hit even harder than Italy."

This season has seen a series of serious accidents during races, including injuries at the Tour de Pollogne and Il Lombardia to Fabio Jacobsen and Remco Evenepoel of Dečuninck-Quickstep Remco Evenepoel at the Tour de Pollogne and Ile Lombardia, Max Schachmann of Bora-Hansgrohe also at Ile Lombardia, and Steven Kruijswijk of Jumbo-Visma at the Criterium du Dauphiné, rider safety is as big a topic as the Corona virus and has become as big a topic of discussion as the virus itself.

"Let us begin to approach it as a shared responsibility," Lapartiento said of the topic.

"On Tuesday, I had a three-hour meeting with all parties involved, including the UCI, the teams, the race organizers, and, for the riders, Philippe Gilbert (Lotto-Soudal) and Matteo Trentin (CCC Team). They provided invaluable input. We are moving forward and already have a new meeting scheduled for November 5."

Two teams with injured riders this year (Deceuninck Quick Step and Jumbo Visma) have requested a pre-race safety check of potential problem areas by an independent auditor, but La Partiente said that the responsibility for making their races safe will remain with the race organizers He stated.

"I don't think that [the proposal] is justified. 'The organizers have rejected it. Yesterday (Tuesday) they made it clear that the legal responsibility for the race lies with the organizers. I would be very surprised if an outside firm were to assume that responsibility."

"But, of course, we intend to enlist the help of independent experts. We are not opposed to that."

"We are not opposed to that. But there is very little support for the proposal by those teams."

When EF Pro Cycling was fined for starting the Giro d'Italia with the Rapha-made EF Pro Cycling x Palace jersey (a collaboration with skateboarding and streetwear brand "Palace"), many wondered if publicity stunts were always part of the plan. Many wondered if it was always part of the plan.

"They [EF] started the registration process [for the design] but intentionally did not complete it," LaPartient said. For this oversight, he was fined a total of CHF 4,500 (CHF 500 per player, with an equal amount for Fabrizio Guidi of Directeur Sportif).

"Everything was done to increase publicity for the jerseys. Mario Cipollini did the same," the UCI president said of the Italian sprinter, who regularly shows up at various races wearing unauthorized costumes and kit.

"He used to pay fines left and right to enter races dressed as Julius Caesar. After that, everyone started talking about it. Mission accomplished

"We just applied the regulations. The fine had nothing to do with the design, and Mr. Vaughters [EF team manager Jonathan Vaughters] knew that very well," Lapartiento said.

LaPartiento also noted that Lemko Evenpoel's, which was removed by David Bramati, sport director of Dečuninck-Quick Step, after the Belgian rider's season-ending crash at Il Lombardia in August. He was asked if the investigation into what was in his back pocket was still ongoing.

Video footage of the incident showed Bramati removing what appeared to be a small white bottle. Team boss Patrick Lefebvre later described it as a "finish bottle," which riders sometimes carry for an energy drink or Coke at the race finale, and said it was removed by Bramati before Evenpoel was placed on a stretcher.

"The CADF (Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation) is doing its own investigation into that," Lapartiento said.

"All I know is that their work is done and their findings will be back 'soon. But I don't know what 'soon' means."

The UCI was also investigating whether the items taken could have been some kind of data device to illegally transmit strategically important power data to team cars in order to gain a sporting advantage. At the time, LaPartiento questioned a statement made by Bramati immediately after the crash, in which Bramati stated that he knew in advance that Evenpoel had crashed and that his "data had stopped."

"There is nothing wrong with the public data that you can see on the (TV) screen," Lapartiento said this week.

"It has been approved by the UCI. But what we don't want is for certain teams to use it because they can get data [certain physiological parameters] from riders that other teams don't have. Then they would be able to predict certain situations during the race based on that data.

"In the interview, he said, 'Our rider's data to ...... That is odd, since we are not allowed to transmit data. Such statements caught our attention

"To be clear, Lemko is a great champion and we wish him well in his recovery. He has won every stage race he has started this season and we look forward to seeing him again next season," Lapartiento said.