Organizers looking for ways to save crown jewel of cycling

Tour de France organisers are working to find a new start date for cycling’s biggest race after large public gatherings were banned until mid-July in the latest extension of the French coronavirus lockdown.

Originally slated to start from Nice on June 27 and finish in Paris on July 19, there is no chance the event can go ahead as planned and organisers face a mammoth logistical task of rescheduling.

So far, organisers ASO have remained silent, but several mayors of the French towns along the planned route say they have been consulted regarding the new dates.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised address Monday that a strict lockdown in France would continue until at least May 11, as public gatherings were banned until mid-July.

Tour general director Christian Prudhomme has said riders will need two months after the lockdown ends to prepare for the race.

France’s Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner said on Tuesday that ASO had to reschedule or cancel the Tour.

“It is up to the organiser to analyse their ability to organise it and reschedule it,” Castaner told French radio.

A start in late July or mid-August has been mooted, with some reports suggesting the race could even be delayed until September.

The race’s route is over 3,000km long, with roughly 500,000 fans lining the roads each day.

“Social distancing on the roadside wouldn’t be a problem, but in the start towns, at the finish line and in the VIP tents it certainly would,” Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst told Flemish TV channel Sporza on Saturday. (AFP)