STATEMENT- STUART O’GRADY COVID-19 CLOSE CONTACT

Stuart O’Grady, Race Director for the Santos Festival of Cycling, has become a COVID-19 close contact. Under the current SA Health requirements for close contacts, Stuart will not be able to attend the men’s races, from Wednesday 26 to Saturday 29 January. He will continue to fulfil as many of the elements as possible from his home, with Santos Festival of Cycling’s Women’s Race Director, Kimberley Conte handling responsibilities in the car each day. Stuart and Kimberley will work well together to ensure a seamless and successful delivery of the men’s races in the coming days.

Executive Director, Events South Australia Hitaf Rasheed said “We’re so devastated for Stuart. He has done an amazing job in the past 12 months preparing for both a UCI WorldTour Santos Tour Down Under and an AusCycling NRS Santos Festival of Cycling. He’s always positive, a brilliant team player and I know how much he was looking forward to the cycling community coming to Adelaide and delivering a great road race. As always, despite being disappointed, Stuey is taking a pragmatic approach to the situation, and working closely with Kimberley and the event team to deliver a fantastic race.”