The organizers of the Tour de France would have liked to talk only about sporting issues, popular celebrations and the passage of the advertising caravan. But in Nice, where you must now wear a mask throughout the city, health issues dominate. If a runner tests positive for coronavirus, they will be excluded from the race. If two runners test positive in a week, the whole team will have to go home.
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Isolated teams in different hotels
Christian Prudhomme, the director of the event, does not himself have access to the teams, who live isolated in various hotels in Nice and its region while waiting for the start of the race. “I'm not in the racing bubble. I saw the runners on Thursday, I said hello to them from afar, but I didn't go and chat with them like I would have in other years. spent more time with the prefect and the mayor of Nice in recent days than with the representatives of the teams ", details Christian Prudhomme at the microphone of Europe 1. The prefect has indeed given instructions to limit as much as possible the attendance of public.
For the sporting aspect, two teams are favored by the forecasts: the British formation Ineos, with in its ranks the outgoing winner the young columbine Egan Bernal, and the Dutch from Jumbo-Visma with the Slovenian Primoz Roglic as leader.
Saturday, the start will be given at 2 p.m.