This month, the Mitchelton-Scott team prepares to return to racing as the men's and women's teams resume their COVID-19-affected road season in Spain.

With the women's Emmacmén Nafaroaco Classicoa and Clasica Femenina Navarra and men's Vuelta a Burgos stage races coming up in the next few weeks, the teams have created their own "RACESAFE" to keep riders and staff safe during the COVID-19 pandemic policy was created.

These measures include a program of monitoring and COVID-19 testing of all members within the team "bubble," additional sanitization protocols, a team doctor on hand at each race, and no selfies or autograph sessions with fans.

It also establishes protocols for interaction with the media, including a two-meter distance, the wearing of masks, and dedicated time slots for interviews on team buses and at the start line.

The race will be the first since the season was suspended in March and will also mark the debut of new team management, with Darrach McQuaid taking over as "chairman" and new general manager Brent Copeland, who moved from Bahrain McLaren.

Former manager Shayne Bannan left the team after eight years following a failed takeover by Manuela Fundacion. The Spanish NGO had offered 10 million euros to buy the team's World Tour license, but the deal fell through last month.

Men's team representative Matt White replaces Coppa Agostoni, Coppa Bernocchi, and Tre Valli Varesine this year, 1. Pro rank Milan-Torino, Gran Piemonte, Gran Trittico Lombardo, 2.1 rank before Tour de France Czech Tour (August 6-9), Tour de Hungary before the Giro d'Italia, and other races outside the World Tour were added to the calendar.

"We chose races outside the World Tour for several reasons. One is to prepare for bigger races and bigger goals, like the three Grand Tours or certain one-day races. Another is to provide a race for everyone. We also want to offer a mix of stage races and one-day races."

Mitchelton-Scott was the lone World Champion Annemieke van Fluten in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad with Adam Yates' victory in the UAE Tour before the Coronavirus pandemic caused all sporting events to be cancelled. Starting with the win, he went on to win eight victories and four national championships.

Many riders were then subjected to strict quarantines in March and April, but as the number of COVID-19 cases declined, countries such as Italy and Spain gradually began loosening restrictions. Teams are now deciding what is best for them, whether to remain as one team or split into bubbles while they prepare to resume racing, following the UCI's recommendation to resume racing. The team did not give details of its strategy, but White said the riders are eagerly awaiting the race's resumption.

"We're not pushing the riders. They're handling it well and they're ready to go," White said. There are no excuses going back into the race. As a team, we had probably 90% of the riders out of the race for two months, but they all had home trainers and were racing long enough.

"It was like the beginning and end of the season at the same time. Regardless of the race program, we all know that the start of August is the one to beat. The whole group is ready and willing."

While the men's race schedule is nine countries, 30 events, and 117 days of racing, the women's is limited to six countries, 17 events, and 32 days of racing.

"We start the race in Basque. This is a good opportunity to bring everyone together and a good preparation for Strade Bianche," said women's DS Martin Vestby.

"Also, with COVID-19, we feel that after a long rest, it is better to return to the races to relax and see how the different protocols are implemented, rather than to break our legs at the World Tour races.

"We have riders who can perform in many of the races we compete in, so with this compromised schedule, we have a pretty big target for every race we compete in.

"The girls have done really well in terms of how they approach this period. When the girls realized that this was going to last quite a while, they changed their training regimen to maintain basic conditioning. As the race gets closer, the intensity is increasing to prepare them for the race. I can mentally feel that they are looking forward to getting back into the race and are enthusiastic about the final work they need to do now."