Sam Hill, in accordo con il suo team manager Nigel Page, ha deciso che non prenderà parte alla stagione 2020 di Enduro World Series a causa delle limitazioni e complicazioni dovute alla gestione dell’emergenza Covid-19 in Australia, sua nazione di residenza, che impone una quarantena al rientro sul territorio nazionale. Lo stesso calendario della stagione agonistica 2020, non solo di EWS ma anche della World Cup di XC e di DH, risulta claudicante a causa della pandemia e i singoli eventi saranno inficiati notevolmente da restrizioni anti-Covid, quindi è legittimo ritenere che il campione australiano non sarà il solo atleta non europeo a decidere di non partecipare alla stagione di gare. Di seguito il comunicato stampa ufficiale del team CRC Nukeproof.
[Comunicato stampa] It’s been a crazy year for everyone, our thoughts go out to all those effected by the current Covid-19 situation.
Like most of you, we’ve been eager to get back to do what we love; racing bikes. However, after much discussion and consideration and in respect for all involved, we have decided Sam Hill will not travel to Europe this year to compete in the 2020 EWS races.
Where Sam lives in Western Australia, they have strict rules on international travel and whilst air travel companies are doing an amazing job to make travel as risk free as possible, the prospect of none essential travel and 14 day isolation & quarantine on return is something we are not comfortable and unwilling to ask any of our athletes to do.
From Sam:
“I’m unfortunately not going to be at the upcoming EWS races this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation around the world.
Traveling across the world right now is not a risk I want to put myself or my family through. It’s a very tough decision to make as I love racing and being with my team and the fans but I feel it’s the right choice for myself at this time. Hopefully next year things can get back to normal and I will be ready to chase another title.”
Sam came into 2020 more motivated and prepared than ever, ready to defend his Enduro World Title. However, with the prospect of no EWS 2020 world title on the line, Sam will remain as the current EWS world champion going into 2021 when we will hope to be back to racing.
We would also like to wish team rider Kelan Grant a speedy recovery from recent shoulder surgery. The team and Kelan chose this time to rectify a persistent injury and ensure that he is 100% fit and healthy for the future so he will also miss the next few races of the 2020 season.
However, we’re excited to get back to racing and the rest of the team will head out to Zermatt. For the remaining races joining 2018 U21 EWS World Champion Elliott Heap and myself will be a really talented local rider to myself – Anthony Hales. Ant, will be competing in his first EWS races and is an exciting prospect to look out for.
A big thank you to all our team sponsors and their management for their continued support in these strange times, we are fortunate to have support from some of the best sponsors and people in the business.
I want to thank all our team for their proactive approach to this year. Whilst racing has not been possible, our athletes have continued to do as much as possible to entertain. Be sure to look out for some really cool riding edits Sam is working on in WA coming soon.
Lastly, thank you to the great EWS team for working so hard to get some races going this year.
Stay safe everyone.
Nigel Page
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