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On Thursday, French Prime Minister Jean Castex included Nice in a Covid-19 “red zone” list with stricter health protocols.
In this file photo taken on Aug.26, 2020, the 2020 Tour de France logo is seen next to a masked statue in the city of Nice on the French Riviera. Image: AFP
NICE – The Tour de France launches from the French Riviera on Saturday, two months later than planned and in the shadow of a coronavirus pandemic that could still destroy hopes that the world’s largest cycle race will reach the finish line in Paris in three weeks’ hour.
Originally scheduled for June, the first leg of the three-week epic over the peaks and plains of France embarks from Nice’s iconic Promenade des Anglais for a 154km circuit that will likely end in the kind of massive sprint that is made to measured for a global television. audience tuned from 190 countries.
However, the coronavirus still has the race under control.
On Thursday, French Prime Minister Jean Castex included Nice in a Covid-19 “red zone” list with stricter health protocols.
Meanwhile, any team that has two riders in the positive test will be expelled from the Tour.
In a concerning snack, the Belgian team Lotto has already sent four of its employees home after a positive test and a “suspicious” result.
Saturday’s Promenade des Anglais starting line in Nice will allow only 100 spectators.
Throughout the Tour, a virus testing cell will travel with the teams.
The pandemic means a very different looking Tour this year for riders and fans.
Current French government law limits public gatherings to 5,000.
That spells a cataclysmic change for organizers, with some hikes in previous years drawing hundreds of thousands of people along the roads.
“Yes, the public will have access to the Tour de France,” Tour director Christian Prudhomme told AFP.
“But there will be projection areas in the departure and arrival areas to allow the current government a maximum of 5,000 fans.
Prudhomme added that, in some places, there will only be people who go on foot, by bicycle or on public transport established by the host cities or villages, “there will also be checks on the approximately 20 climbs and passes,” Prudhomme added. can go to the passes. “
The health and safety protocols for cyclists and teams imply that they are kept in a bubble and tested multiple times, with the least possible interaction between the respective bubbles.
Selfies will be frowned upon.
Dave Brailsford, the boss of the Ineos Team that has taken seven of the last eight Tour de France titles, admitted that uncertainty remains about the race that will hit the Champs-Elysées on September 20.
“If there comes a time when it becomes too great a risk for cyclists and teams, for society at large, people have to take it into account,” he said.
Brailsford, by the way, dropped two former Tour winners, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas.
David Lappartient, president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), warned teams to be vigilant.
“There is no zero risk,” he said.
“It is not impossible that some teams do not reach the end.
“But with respect to the rules, we shouldn’t come to that.”
On Saturday the drivers will try to think only about the challenge ahead.
Tiny Australian Lotto-Soudal sprinter Caleb Ewan, who is 5ft 5in (1.65m) tall, is one of the favorites to win the opener after three stage wins in 2019.
“I am ready to accept the challenge,” said the 26-year-old.
“Stage 1 is not too difficult for me, it will be cool and maybe rainy, which suits me.”
Sunday’s stage will undoubtedly see the general leader’s yellow jersey change hands again with a 187km race from the promenade atop two mountains at more than 1,500m.
After the second of them, the Col de Turini, a 30km white-knuckle downhill stretch to the finish line is not for the faint-hearted.
Former French soldier Julian Alaphilippe, who led the race for 14 days in 2019, has vowed to try his luck again.
“It was unforgettable,” he said.
“So if I feel good on Sunday I will try, for the win and the yellow jersey,” he said.
Defending champion Egan Bernal and his main rival, former Slovenian ski jumper Primoz Roglic, may even be tempted to push themselves at first.
“I’ll have to be careful with him,” Bernal, 23, said Friday.
“He was the strongest in the warm-ups,” he said of his 30-year-old rival, who has impressive acceleration in the last 500 meters on the climbs.
There will be five summit finals and 29 classified mountain climbs over the three weeks.
With the two-month delay, the French plains will likely be battered by autumn winds, especially on tours along the coast, such as stage 10 between the Atlantic islands of Oleron and Re.
However, the suspense will intensify throughout as the penultimate day features a possible shakeup with an individual time trial on the fan-favorite climb of Planches des Belles Filles.
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