The specter of exclusion from the Tour de France is fading (a little) for the Ineos team.

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Thibault Camus / AFP

Here is an information that should make the AG2R, Ineos, Cofidis and Mitchelton-Scott teams happy, a few days after the discovery of positive cases for Covid-19 in their ranks.

Indeed, the counters will be reset to zero for the next wave of Covid detection tests, during the second day of rest of the Tour de France, AFP learned from a ministerial source on Thursday.

A first wave of tests was carried out during the rest day that the Tour observed on Monday in Charente-Maritime and four teams (AG2R La Mondiale, Cofidis, Ineos, Mitchelton), including that of the defending champion Egan Bernal (Ineos) , had a positive case in their workforce of about thirty people, runners and managers.

With this decision, the four teams affected by positive cases will therefore be in the same situation as the others: it would take two new positive cases at the time of the next series of tests to incur exclusion.

According to Reuters, the daily counter will be reset for the second phase of testing on the next rest day.

The 4 teams having had a case of Covid-19 will therefore not be excluded if another case occurs.

# TDF2020

- The Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) September 10, 2020

We clear it all and start again

Indeed, according to the health protocol validated by the French authorities, a team finds itself excluded from the Tour de France from two cases in its group over a period of seven rolling days.

The next and last wave of Covid-19 detection tests is scheduled for Monday during the second day of rest, in Isère.

For practical reasons, this operation will be spread over two days, Sunday and Monday, at the start of the last week of the race.

The entire “bubble race”, ie some 650 to 700 people, was tested before the Grand Départ from Nice.

On each of the two days of rest, new detection tests are carried out.

No runner has been taken out of the Big Loop due to Covid-19.

On the other hand, the director of the Tour Christian Prudhomme, positive on a test Monday (and asymptomatic), left the event.

His return is scheduled for next Tuesday subject to a negative result in a future examination.

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