Friday, March 29, 2024

COVID-19: Tour de France set to be postponed

The Tour De France looks set to be postponed following French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that there will be no public events before mid-July.

The Tour De France is due to be staged between June 27 and July 19 but with public gatherings and major events having been cancelled up to that point, it will almost certainly have to be postponed.

Earlier we reported that the French F1 Grand Prix, which is due to be held in June, is also set for postponement as a direct result of the new government guidelines.

Much of the cycling calendar has already been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis with the Giro D’Italia having been cancelled alongside the ‘monument’ one-day races: Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

The race was due to see the comeback of British star and four-time Tour De France winner Chris Froome.

He missed the 2019 edition of the tournament having broken his neck, elbow, femur, hips and ribs in a crash while preparing for the event.

The event was therefore won by Colombian Egan Bernal of Team Ineos – who will no doubt be in the running for the yellow jersey again alongside Britain’s Geraint Thomas, who won the 2018 version of the Tour.

The financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been significant in the world of cycling, as it has most other sports.

The International Cycling Union, who are the sports governing body, furloughed staff and cut the salaries of the leaders.

They blamed the postponement of the Olympic and Paralympic Games which were set to be held in Tokyo later this year, as well as having lost much of their existing calendar.

Currently, the Road World Championships, which are set to be held in Switzerland in September, are still set to go ahead.

The only question for the Tour De France now is whether it will be merely postponed to a later date, or whether it will need to be cancelled entirely.

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