INTERVIEW
A Tour de France unlike any other. The 2020 edition of the Grande Boucle started on Saturday from Nice, but behind closed doors due to the epidemic context. This year, the regulation also gives pride of place to health protection measures as the circulation of Covid-19 intensifies in the territory: a team will be excluded from the competition if two of its members have tested positive, including in management teams. "Maybe the Covid will choose the winner!", Warns at the microphone of Europe 1 Richard Virenque, cycling consultant for Europe 1.
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Safety distances difficult to respect
The one who has been crowned seven times best climber on the tour can hardly imagine how to maintain the safety distances on a race of this magnitude. "Even if there are only a handful of spectators, in the passes, I do not see how we will prevent people from touching, watering the runners. We will have to organize all that!", Warns the cyclist , who fears to see the Tour de France turn into a sinister "lottery", between the athletes who will be excluded because sick, and those who will be able to continue the competition.
For the time being, in order to limit the risks of transmission, in particular between the public and the runners, the organizers are planning to set up filtering points near the arrival areas and passes, so as to avoid gatherings. Spectators are also requested to wear the mask on the roadsides.
Runners in the starting blocks
Another upheaval induced by the epidemic: the delay at the end of the summer period of the competition, which is usually held in July. For Richard Virenque, this change of calendar promises a more nervous Tour de France than in previous years. "In a classic season, it would have changed a lot, but with the cancellation of competitions since March, everyone was able to rest," he notes. "The international peloton focused on this Tour de France which serves as the start of the school year". It bodes well for a "Tour de France eventful in terms of pace."