All Tour riders cleared of COVID, Prudhomme and four team staff test positive
All riders in the Tour de France are free to continue the race on Tuesday after all were cleared of coronavirus. Four team staff members from different teams tested positive and were sent home from the race. Race director Christian Prudhomme has reportedly tested positive as well.
In an official communique, race organisers confirmed earlier media reports that no riders had tested positive but said that one staff member “from each of Team Cofidis, AG2R La Mondiale, Ineos Grenadiers and Mitchelton-Scott have tested positive and left the race bubble.”
The same report suggests one “technical service provider has also tested positive and has left the race.”
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE
⁰COMMUNIQUE OFFICIEL#TDF2020 pic.twitter.com/b5529teCvS— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) September 8, 2020
Luxembourgish media outlet RTL reports that Prudhomme will leave the race for seven days and that his deputy, François Lemarchand, will take over race direction duties. Prudhomme shared a car with French prime minister Jean Castex over the weekend.
According to media reports, one staff member at Deceuninck-QuickStep was retested on Tuesday morning following an apparent error with their first test. That staffer subsequently tested negative.
This from DQS: ‘An error was made in the laboratory with the sample that the individual gave yesterday, meaning they were taken for restesting this morning. The result of this second test has been returned as negative and we will continue to race as normal.’
— Jeremy Whittle (@jeremycwhittle) September 8, 2020
The UCI and ASO report that a total of 841 coronavirus tests were completed on Sunday and Monday.
Any rider or team staffer that tests positive to coronavirus during the Tour will be sent home. Two confirmed positives from within a single team will see the whole team ejected.
After a rest day yesterday, the Tour de France continues today with a largely flat stage from Île d’Oléron to Île de Ré along France’s west coast. Crosswinds could feature.
Riders and team staff will be tested for coronavirus again on the race’s second rest day, scheduled for next Monday after the completion of stage 15. Should anyone from Cofidis, AG2R La Mondiale, Ineos Grenadiers or Mitchelton-Scott record another positive test then, the entire team will be expelled from the race.
