Paris (AFP)

Research new date: the postponement of the Tour de France, made inevitable by the announcement of Emmanuel Macron, poses a new challenge to an event confronted for the first time in such a situation but its organizers (ASO) remain silent for the moment.

According to the newspaper Le Dauphiné, which published the information early Tuesday evening, the Tour 2020 will start on August 29 from the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. It will end on September 20 on the Champs-Elysées.

The Tour will follow the route planned during the three weeks of racing, specifies the regional newspaper which is concerned first and foremost because of its location in the heart of the Alps.

The company ASO (Amaury Sport Organization), which is in the habit of contacting the elected representatives of the stage cities and territories concerned as a priority, did not confirm this date on Tuesday evening.

Scheduled initially from June 27 to July 19, the Tour enters the time zone of prohibited gatherings (until mid-July) by the announcement made Monday evening by the President of the Republic. The riders, who must still remain confined, would not have been able to prepare in time for a Grand start set less than two months (the deadline set by the director of the Tour Christian Prudhomme) after their first outing.

- An essential condition -

Questioned on the subject Tuesday morning, the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner pronounced the word "uncertainty". "It is up to the organizers to analyze their ability to organize this, to postpone it," he said on France Inter, returning the ball to the event organizer.

The first hypothesis raised here and there, a one month shift in the calendar, had major drawbacks. First of all, the proximity of the green light given by Emmanuel Macron to the rallies. But also the difficulty of placing a preparatory race such as the Dauphiné before the start of the Tour as well as the problem posed by the limited hotel capacity in tourist places during the first half of August.

The choice to shift towards the end of the summer takes into account the hoped-for improvement in the health situation. A sine qua non condition for an event which is much more than a cycle race, a party inseparable from the public to the point that the hypothesis of the closed door, a race without spectators, has died out by itself.

Uncertainty on the subject has led everyone to express themselves as much as the Tour, the peak of the cycling season, is above all essential to the economic balance of their sport. "It's very simple. If the Tour does not take place, teams could disappear, runners and members of management would find themselves without work", summed up to AFP Marc Madiot, the manager of the team Groupama-FDJ who is also the president of the National Cycling League.

- Danger or not? -

The runners are the first convinced. "I obviously hope that we can race on the Tour: for me, my team, the sport and all the fans," said the 2019 winner, the Colombian Egan Bernal. "Obviously, there are more important things to settle first but as soon as there is no more danger and when we are ready to move on, we would love the Tour to take place," said his predecessor to the prize list, the Welshman Geraint Thomas.

"As soon as there is no more danger"? This is the problem that arises for an event that attracts 10 to 12 million spectators on the roadsides each summer and generates the daily displacement of some 4,500 people. Even if voices were heard in the medical community for a Tour outfit during the summer.

"People who stay on the side of the roads to see the runners do not represent a danger," Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst said on Saturday at the Flemish television channel Sporza. "On the other hand, social distancing is more problematic at the start and finish of stages, in VIP tents".

For French emergency physician Patrick Pelloux, who spoke at Francetvsport, "it is possible that the Tour de France will take place". The significance of the event? "It would be a symbolic return of France."

© 2020 AFP