‘Too early to decide if Tour de France can go ahead’
PARIS: It is too soon to decide whether the Tour de France can go ahead amid the coronavirus pandemic, a French Sports Ministry spokeswoman said on Thursday.
Following the postponement of the Euro 2020 soccer Championship and the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Tour de France - due to take place in June and July - is one of the last major global sporting events that has not yet been cancelled.
“The Tour is a sports monument. It is too soon to decide. There is a time for everything. For now, we have a more urgent battle to fight.
“Let us focus on this mountain in front of us and then consider what’s next,” French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu wrote on Twitter.
Late on Wednesday, local radio station France Bleu quoted her as saying that France may consider organising the Tour without spectators in order to minimise the risk of infection.
Late on Wednesday, Maracineanu said:
“This year’s Tour de France could be staged without spectators in a bid to combat the coronavirus pandemic.”
The French government is in talks with Tour organisers about the future of the June 27-July 19 edition of world cycling’s top event which draws more than 10 millions fans annually to the roads of France.
All options are being considered including postponement or cancellation of the event which has been raced every year in peacetime since 1903, the minister said.
“Everything is imaginable. We have (imposed spectator bans) for other competitions before, even though it won’t have the same impact because the business model of the Tour doesn’t depend on ticket sales like football or rugby,” she told France Bleu radio station.
The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics and the Euro 2020 football championships has focused attention on the Tour which winds its way for thousands of miles through the towns and villages of France in a wide loop for three weeks ending on the Champs Elysees in Paris.
“I think that today everybody is aware and responsible about the period of isolation we are going through and everyone knows the reasons and the benefits that it can bring to all,” she said.
“So finally it wouldn’t be so bad because you could still watch it on TV.”