Saint-Martin-de-Ré (France) (AFP)

The Tour de France is also affected by the coronavirus: its director Christian Prudhomme must stay away from the event for a week, following a positive test for Covid-19, but all runners can continue the race. race.

"The runners live like monk-soldiers, which is not my case", explained to AFP the director of the Tour, who increases, because of his functions, the meetings with elected officials, guests and other officials .

He notably shared his car with Prime Minister Jean Castex, visiting the Tour last Saturday during the first Pyrenean day.

Symbol of the organization of the biggest race in the world, Christian Prudhomme leaves his place during this time to François Lemarchand, a former professional rider who already has the experience of leading a cycling event since he occupies this position. function for several years in Paris-Nice.

"I'm leaving the Tour for eight days," said Christian Prudhomme, who is asymptomatic.

"I will do like any French employee in this kind of case".

To return after the second day of rest, next Monday in Isère, at the start of the third week of racing which promises to be decisive.

In the organization of the 2020 Tour, a "race bubble", to which the Tour director does not belong, brings together the riders, the management of their teams and a few officials, ie some 650 people.

All of them, like other people in the organization, underwent a Covid-19 detection test on the occasion of the rest day in Charente-Maritime, before the resumption of the race.

- Four failed team members -

If no positive case was detected in the peloton, four people, members of the management of four different teams (Cofidis, AG2R La Mondiale, Ineos, Mitchelton), were rejected and had to leave the "race bubble".

But no training has presented more than one positive case, which does not therefore lead to any collective exclusion.

On the other hand, the four teams, which have as leaders the outgoing winner Egan Bernal (Ineos), the former yellow jersey Adam Yates (Mitchelton) and the first two French in the standings, Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Global), find themselves under direct threat.

A second case detected in their training within seven days, if symptoms appear, and the team would be excluded!

According to the health protocol decided by the authorities, positive people must leave the test.

A team is excluded if it presents two cases in its workforce of about thirty people.

"After all the accredited people were tested 5 days before the Grand Départ in Nice, and then the + race bubble + was tested once again when they arrived on the Tour, this campaign is the third since the start of the race. 'event ", specified in a joint statement, the organization of the Tour (ASO) and the International Federation (UCI).

"A fourth is scheduled under the same conditions during the next rest day in Isère on September 14," they add.

For his part, Christian Prudhomme claimed to have been tested three times before the start, "on August 6, 20 and 27", each time with a negative result.

"According to the information given to me, it just happened," he told AFP about his case.

"I'm going to watch the Tour on television, which hasn't happened to me for fifteen years," concluded Christian Prudhomme, alone at the helm of the biggest race in the world since 2007.

© 2020 AFP