The South African Mariske Strauss was one of the first in the mountain bike circus to test positive for corona. She was infected back in February 2020. On her Instagram channel, she declared at the end of March 2020 that she only had mild symptoms. However, she then told a South African online cycling magazine in May that after the positive test, the extreme tiredness and breathlessness that she had already felt before suddenly made sense. After that, her energy level had dropped to an all-time low and she had also been struggling with severe muscle pain.

A little later, Dutch rider Anne Terpstra - Sina Frei's teammate in the 2020 season - also fell ill with Covid-19. "I wasn't seriously ill, but when I rode my bike, my lungs felt like I had just ridden a race at minus 3 degrees," she told Ride. After the illness had subsided, the Dutchwoman suffered from severe fatigue for another two months. "Then I realized that I wouldn't get rid of the fatigue if I just kept resting. On the second day of the first week of training, I thought I would never make it through the program. On Wednesday, I felt the first signs of recovery." In the end, Anne Terpstra recovered so well that she achieved some of her best results in the short 2020 World Cup season.

One year later, the virus is still circulating. At the end of March 2021, Greg Minaar made his Covid illness public. The symptoms were mild, but his heart rate was quite abnormal, as he announced in an Instagram post. In the middle of his pre-season preparations, he had to make do with walks and easy e-bike laps. Afterwards he was delighted that his heart rate was no longer going crazy with reduced exercise in the gym.

Last May, the Danish cross-country racer Malene Degn announced her infection. She had tested positive just before Albstadt, so Nove Mesto was also out for her. Degn also had a mild case, but on certain days she had slept more than she had been awake. Other, less prominent mountain bike pros have survived an infection with the coronavirus. For all of them, it took a while for their performance to return to the previous level - which also means that none of them have suffered any long-term impairments to date.