Movistar donates 100% glasses to doctors fighting pandemic

With no racing on the horizon, teams are finding their own ways of dealing with the global coronavirus crisis.

While many squads have turned to indoor racing and training, others are doing what they can to help combat the spread of Covid-19, including Spanish WorldTour squad Movistar.

The team, home to Alejandro Valverde, are donating 250 pairs of their 100% sunglasses to doctors involved in fighting the pandemic.

Movistar and their California-based glasses partner 100% will be handing the glasses over to Vall d’Hebron hospital in Barcelona, to be used as protective eyewear for healthcare staff on the front line of the crisis.

A statement from the team said: “In order use the opportunity to help, and as part of various initiatives that we are preparing to aid society in this difficult situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Movistar has joined forces today with one of its sponsors, 100%, to help in Catalonia, one of the areas most affected by the disease.

“To accompany and explain this donation, a large part of the Movistar staff have posed with the clear lenses that all the glasses will wear. The contribution is the beginning of a series of measures that the team, together with Telefónica and its various sponsors, seeks to realise to give a hand to those who fight to protect the rest of society.”

Members of Israel Start-Up Nation have also been contributing to the fight against coronavirus, by donating 1,500 medical masks to hospitals in Vancouver, Canada.

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Astana rider Davide Martinelli is bicycle couriering to help the elderly people on lockdown in his Italian village.

As there are no shops in his village, Martinelli has been riding to a nearby town to collect essential supplies and then delivering them to vulnerable people.