Corona back from never being away in Tour peloton: ‘Certainly causes stress’ | NOW

The world has largely reopened, but in the Tour de France the corona virus is still an important topic of conversation. Six riders had to withdraw before the start on Friday in Copenhagen due to a positive test, so there is a lot of corona stress in the peloton.

If the cycling world had already forgotten that corona has not disappeared, then the Tour of Switzerland was a heavy-handed memory. 152 riders started the last preparation race for the Tour on June 12. Seven days later, there were still 76 men left after the final stage, mainly due to a boom in corona cases.

“What happened in Switzerland scared us all a bit,” said Jumbo-Visma team leader Grischa Niermann. “There is a very real chance that riders and staff members will test positive during the Tour and then your race is ready. We do everything we can to prevent it, with mouth caps, a lot of testing and by having as little contact as possible with people from outside the team. But it certainly causes stress.”

Jumbo-Visma has already had its first positive test, with Merijn Zeeman. The sporting director had not yet joined the team in Copenhagen and could possibly join the Tour later on, when he has fully recovered. For a rider with corona, the race is over immediately anyway. “I am concerned about corona in the peloton,” says defending champion Tadej Pogacar.

“We all know that COVID-19 is still around us, don’t we,” said Jumbo-Visma leader Primoz Roglic. “We have therefore always remained very vigilant within our team. We follow all precautions, there is nothing more we can do, except hope that we remain negative.”

‘Dangerous for athletes to continue in the event of illness’

The international cycling union UCI will make a relaxation of the corona rules in cycling known. A team that has to deal with one or more positive corona tests from riders within seven days during the Tour de France no longer has to be put off course with the entire team.

Despite this, it is still possible that a rider wearing the yellow leader’s jersey has to leave the Tour because of a positive test, as happened to the Russian Aleksandr Vlasov of BORA-hansgrohe in the Tour of Switzerland.

With Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), Tim Declercq (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl), Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates), Samuele Battistella (Astana), Omer Goldstein and Daryl Impey (both Israel-Premier Tech), the Tour has already had to say goodbye to six riders.

“We have to be very careful,” said Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl’s sports director Tom Steels. “The world has reopened, but COVID-19 has not gone away. It is especially dangerous for athletes to continue when you are sick. We must therefore be very strict, and apologize in advance to the fans: we will be less open are towards them than we want.”

Pogacar hopes bubble will do its job during Tour

The Tour peloton hopes the biggest danger was before the start. So tweeted Team DSM leader Romain Bardet on Tuesday about his stressful trip to Copenhagen, just before boarding a full plane in which 90 percent of the passengers were not wearing a mask. “We thought the corona concerns were over, but apparently not,” said the Frenchman on Thursday. “We have to get used to that.”

Now that all riders are in Denmark and have submitted a negative test, the concerns should ease somewhat. “I hope that from now on we can stay in a bubble as much as possible,” said Pogacar. “And that we survive without additional positive tests.”

The 109th edition of the Tour starts on Friday with a flat time trial of 13 kilometers in Copenhagen. Frenchman Jérémy Lecroq is the first rider to leave at 4 p.m. The finish of the last rider, Marc Soler, is expected around 7:10 PM.

You can find all the latest news and backgrounds in our Tour de France file

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