Hopes of a fully fit lineup at this year’s Tour de France hang in the balance after an outbreak of Covid-19 cases ripped through the Tour de Suisse peloton.
Overall leader Aleksandr Vlasov, three teams and about 30 riders had to withdraw from the Tour de France warm-up, with Vlasov’s team Bora-Hansgrohe saying he and teammate Anton Palzer had tested positive.
The teams of UAE Team Emirates, Alpecin-Fenix and Bahrain Victorious also withdrew, a day after the Jumbo-Visma team departed from the eight-day race, which ends on Sunday.
“In the interest of the health of all riders and staff of the (Tour de Suisse), leaving the race is considered the most sensitive decision of the team management and medical staff,” said Alpecin-Fenix.
Four positive tests, including 2012 Olympic road race silver medalist Rigoberto Uran, were detected on the Education First squad during tests on Friday morning.
Swiss rider Marc Hirschi and Diego Ulissi also tested positive in the UAE squad, citing “reasons for the safety of the team and the wider cycling community” for leaving the race.
Ineos Grenadiers have also lost Adam Yates and Tom Pidcock, who both tested positive for Covid with the former Yates, nominally the Tour’s team leader, and Pidcock hoping to make his debut there.
The Swiss race is one of the last events in preparation for the three-week Tour de France, which starts in two weeks.
What is this race and why should I care?
It is only the 109th edition of the Tour de France, one of the three Grand Tours, the others being the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España.
Regardless of what some believe, this is the biggest and boldest cycling race in the world, with an estimated 80 percent of the sponsorship revenue of most WorldTour teams around the Tour.
Founded in 1903 by Henri Desgrange, editor of the newspaper L’Auto, the Tour may not be the favorite stage race of cycling connoisseurs, but it captures the imagination of the wider sporting public. As a result, the race is the largest annual sporting event in the world with more live spectators than even the Olympics or the World Cup.
When does the Tour de France start?
The Tour de France kicks off this year with an individual time trial of 13.2 kilometers through Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, on Friday, July 1, 2022.
How long will this year’s Tour de France last?
The second Grand Tour of the season includes 21 stages and will be run over 3,328 kilometers – that’s 2,068 miles in old money – which equates to an average of 158.47 km (98.46 miles) per day.