Bahrain McLaren will hold five training camps starting in late June in Andorra, the Alps, Passo Pordoi in Italy, and Freiburg, Germany.

Cavendish will train in Freiburg with a group that includes other team sprinters and all-rounders, Bahrain McLaren general manager Rod Ellingworth told Cycling News.

The four training camps will be split into two separate training camps at Passo Poldoi to keep them healthy.

"The sprinter types are Freiburg, Cav, (Heinrich) Haussler, (Marcel) Sieberg, (Phil) Bauhaus, that kind of thing. They don't need any particular attitude, and the roads in that area are good." Heinrich leads the group and is really active and doing a good job.

"As for Cav - like all of them - as soon as they start running and racing, it will all be at the same time and it will be very intense."

The Andorra camp will include climbers and GC specialists such as Wout Poels, Pero Bilbao, Mikel Landa, Rafal Valls, Matej Mohoric, and Dylan Tuns.

"We will have five camps in four different locations. One will be a scouting camp in the Alps next week, followed by four camps in July. Andorra is a little longer because of the altitude, two in Passo Poldoi and another in Freiburg.

"All will be finished by July 25" - just before the main cycling reform season begins - "starting at slightly different times depending on the workload of each group."

The UCI has yet to announce specific health regulations for training camps and races, but Ellingworth says: "We're using the 'bubble' to protect our athletes."

[18 [The riders going to Andorra will be divided into two groups, each with a soigneur, a mechanic, a sports director, and a coach. So each can be taken care of completely on their own.

"This is just in case, because apart from anything else, we don't yet know the individual medical requirements for each race. Of course, you have to prove that you tested negative before then, but you have to prove that you have been negative for weeks.

Ellingworth confirmed that testing for riders is already in place and will be repeated before and during the camp and, subject to UCI confirmation, before each race.

Another reason for conducting smaller training camps, Ellingworth said, is that if the group gets too big and there is a health emergency, "they could lose us." So we do our best to make sure that everyone is in perfect physical condition when they go out on the bike race."

"I know some teams have larger groups, and that's up to them. But given the uncertainty of the medical requirements, we think that's the way we should go."

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Ellingworth confirmed that Bahrain McLaren's first race would be the five-day Vuelta a Burgos in Spain, three days after the end of training camp.

"The UCI has allowed many small race organizers to reduce the number of riders from seven to six.

However, Burgos organizers say that 40 teams have already signed up for the race, compared to 18 teams on the starting line last year.

Given this situation, thinking outside the box, Bahrain McLaren considered a non-World Tour race that is not part of the regular team program, such as the Tour of Portugal, as part of the 2020 season, but the Grandissima (Portugal's 12-day nickname for the top cycling event) length was not realistic, Ellingworth said.

"With several World Tour races on the horizon, it would be too long and involve too many riders.

For all the World Tour teams, with as many as three race programs going on at the same time, "it's going to be a challenge, especially in terms of the pressure on the staff rather than the logistics. But as a team, we all want the race to go ahead, and that is what we are trying to do."

[9 [Regarding Bahrain McLaren, he said: "Our goal is twofold. To get all the riders into the race and to have enough of a race program to cover everyone. And to go into the race with the gas pedal on full throttle, so that both staff and riders are ready from the start

"So the objective is to be in really good shape. We had a good race with Dylan [Tuns] in Paris-Nice, and we'll be ready to go.

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