Organizers confirmed that the Emacmén Nafaroaco Classicoa will be held in Pamplona on Thursday, despite concerns by the teams and the riders' association, the Cyclist Alliance (TCA), as to whether proper protocols are in place regarding the COVID-19 coronavirus. The TCA confirmed that the event will take place in Pamplona on Thursday. Athletes got underway just before 4 p.m. local time in Spain.

The TCA issued an official communication on Thursday afternoon, a few hours before the start of the race, explaining that only athletes who tested negative for PCR would be allowed to participate. The final starting list included only 15 of the 25 teams originally listed on the race website.

Later, riders from many teams were seen signing up for the race, most of them wearing protective masks.

"The organization of the Clásica Féminas de Navarra - Emakumeen Nafarroako Klasikoa 2020 would like to officially inform you that we have a negative PCR of the cyclists and technical staff of the teams participating in the race.

"The organization has excluded from the race the teams that have not submitted negative results in the corresponding PCR tests. Thus, we pay close attention to the health and safety protocols established by the Navarra Provincial Government Health Department, and members of the organization are in constant contact with the UCI's top medical officer.

The TCA warned of the risks of racing in the Navarra region of northern Spain and the lack of evidence of testing in race staff and teams. On Wednesday night, the TCA asked the UCI to ensure that organizers are following the COVID-19 protocol.

CCC-Liv was scheduled to compete in two one-day races on Thursday and Friday with a team led by Marianne Vos and Ashley Moolman-Pasio. However, on Thursday morning, they announced that they would not start the race due to concerns about a new outbreak of COVID-19 and that other teams and race organizers were not following the UCI's COVID-19 protocol and protecting virus-free bubbles for their teams.

CCC-Liv stated that they followed all protocols, including daily health monitoring of athletes and staff and mandatory RT-PCR testing. After consultation with the team doctors, they decided not to start the two races in Pamplona, but to stay in the protected team bubble in Spain and look ahead to Sunday's race in Durango-Durango.

However, race organizers denied such claims and said they were following COVID-19 protocol.

"The CCC-Liv team decided not to participate in the race without presenting a corresponding PCR and without informing the organizers," the organizers said.

"The organizer denies in its entirety the aforementioned reasons for the team's failure to participate in the test. Likewise, the organizers have notified the team's medical manager of all requested documentation."

Biscaia Durango announced this morning that it will not compete in today's Nafaroaco Emacumen Clásicoa because it has not received the results of the PCR tests conducted on its riders and staff. He also said that his participation in the Clásica Femenina de Navarra on Friday will depend on the arrival of the results.

Trek-Segafredo's Lucinda Brand will compete in the Spanish one-day race and told Dutch news media AD (opens in new tab) that there is much confusion among teams and athletes in the race, but organizers cannot submit negative test results He said he promised not to distribute bib numbers to athletes and teams.

He also expressed concern that riders who were tested on Tuesday or Wednesday might not be able to race because it took more than two days to get the test results.

"At first, the organization seemed unable to explain whether riders had been inspected," Brand told the AD. He stressed that "the larger teams and the federation had to be able to prove whether the riders had been inspected. And the federation said it would only issue bib numbers if the inspection results were available.

"We, too, had to wait for the results before we could get our bib numbers. This morning a small Spanish team was inspected, and I wonder how they made it to the inspection. I think everyone on the starting line will be inspected."

Brand suggested that the cost of testing riders more frequently would be prohibitive for teams with smaller budgets.