CLOUDS GATHER OVER LE TOUR:
COVID AND RETURN OF FANS CASTS CLOUD OVER BIG RACE
NO Chris Froome, no Geraint Thomas, no Mark Cavendish, no Brits in contention for the Yellow Jersey or sprint honours.
And there is no guarantee the peloton will even make it to Paris if the resurgence of this blasted virus is not checked.
For the first time since 2006, British hopes of meaningful success on the Tour de France are nearer non-existent than negligible.
In 2007, two million fans lined the streets of London for the Grand Depart and a second stage down to Canterbury – and as a nation we fell in love with cycling’s blue riband test of endurance.
Since then Froome (four times), Thomas and Bradley Wiggins have raised the Union Flag on the Champs Elysees, while Cavendish has chalked up 30 stage wins.
But the Brits have receded into the margins this year.
Despite a miraculous recovery, Froome – who broke multiple bones at the Criterium du Dauphine last year – was not quite up to speed.
After a decade of glory with the dismally-rebranded Ineos
Grenadiers and its forerunner Team Sky, his dream of a record-equalling fifth Yellow Jersey will have to wait beyond his 36th birthday and his transfer to Israel Start-Up Nation.
And Thomas, whose form since lockdown has been sluggish, will instead go to the Giro d’Italia in five weeks with more of the Welsh dragon’s fire in his belly.
Above all, on the Promenade des
Anglais at today’s
Grand Depart in
Nice, there will be a sense of trepidation as crowds – the missing ingredient from so many showpieces since lockdown – return to a major sporting event.
With a new surge in coronavirus cases in France, critics of the race going ahead – it was postponed nine weeks from the original take-off date of June 27 – say it represents an unnecessary risk to public health.
Nice was placed on red alert 48 hours ago and face masks are obligatory across the city, both inside and out. If two members of any team test positive, the whole squad will be withdrawn from the race. Race director Christian Prudhomme admitted: “We’ll be under greater scrutiny than ever, but this Tour will be a symbol of rebirth and economic recovery.”
As well as no Brits in yellow, there will be no podium ceremonies, no kissing, no flowers, no cuddly toys, no symbolic handover of the leader’s Yellow Jersey. On the roads, the battle for the fabled maillot jaune is expected to be led by Primoz Roglic, Tom Dumoulin and the defending champion Egan Bernal.
Ineos principal Sir Dave Brailsford is plotting his eighth Tour win in nine years – 2014, when Froome crashed in the first week, was the only time his juggernaut stalled.
Brailsford accepts there are no guarantees the peloton will complete the 2,156-mile trail to Paris on September 20. He said: “If there comes a point where it’s too much of a risk, we need to take that on board.”