Uncertainty shrouds Tour de France racing against COVID-19
PARIS — Already delayed, the Tour de France sets off Saturday shrouded in uncertainty, flying in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and the imponderable question of how many of the 176 riders will avoid infection and endure three exceptionally tough weeks of racing to reach the finish in Paris.
That's if the rolling roadshow gets that far. Staging cycling's premier race when COVID-19 infections are rising again in France represents both a health risk and an embodiment of French President Emmanuel Macron's insistence that the country must learn to function as normally as possible with the virus.
Failure to safely steer the Tour to the cobbles of Paris' Champs-Elysées avenue on Sept. 20 could cast further doubt on the feasibility of holding other sporting mega-events, including the Tokyo Olympics postponed to next year, while the coronavirus remains untamed. A key question posed by pushing ahead with the race will be whether it would have been wiser and safer to simply cancel it.
"Is the Tour adding to the human community experience this year? Or hurting it? That's what needs answering," Jonathan Vaughters, boss of the EF Education First team, told The Associated Press.
Amid the pandemic, the usually boisterous celebration of cycling that for decades has drawn packed throngs of cheering roadside spectators promises to be a strange and more subdued affair, moved for the first time in its 117-year history out of its traditional July slot to a September month when many fans will be back at school or at work after summer vacations.
Riders who in more carefree times were habitually besieged by admirers congregating outside their team buses and hotels are expected to be largely sealed off from the outside world, except while out on the roads. Organizers are beseeching spectators to wear face masks, but won't be able to prevent them from turning out to watch as riders speed through their towns and villages, starting in the Mediterranean city of Nice on Saturday.