Increasing numbers of infections in Europe, the Tour de Suisse as a corona farce and a Tour champion Tadej Pogacar who is wearing a mask again: Less than two weeks before the start of the Tour de France, there is a high level of alarm in cycling.

The Corona summer wave makes the industry tremble.

"For the sake of our sport, I don't hope that it will just be a lottery," said team boss Ralph Denk from the Bora-hansgrohe racing team of the German Press Agency with a view to the start of the tour on July 1 in Copenhagen: "The concern is there .

It can have an impact.”

After numerous Corona cases, more than 40 professional cyclists had to end the Tour de Suisse prematurely in the past few days.

Three-time road cycling world champion Peter Sagan withdrew on Sunday.

The Slovak tested positive for Corona for the third time in 18 months and therefore had to end the Tour de Suisse before the final stage.

"I have no symptoms and feel good but I have to finish the race," Sagan wrote on Twitter.

With a view to the Tour de France, which begins on July 1, it will be tight for the cycling star, who won the third stage of the Tour of Switzerland.

There were three cases in the Bora team, including that of Russia's Alexander Vlasov, who had to pull out a day after his stage win and capture of the yellow jersey on Friday.

The immediate environment of Pogacar was also affected, who successfully completed his tour dress rehearsal at home on the Tour of Slovenia, won the final stage on Sunday and took the overall victory.

A teammate tested positive and another was taken out of the race to be on the safe side.

"We're isolating as much as we can," Pogacar said, noting, "For the first two days we signed autographs and took pictures with people.

Now we are keeping our distance because we want to be at the start of the tour.” The 2020 and 2021 Tour winner will not be taking part in the national championships next weekend.

“We actually thought that we left all that behind us”

The cycling teams were startled, especially in Switzerland, the riders had been tested positively in rows.

"We actually thought that we had put all that behind us," said Geraint Thomas, who finished the Tour on Sunday as the winner after a final time trial and could therefore lead again as captain of Ineos in Copenhagen after winning the Tour of France in 2018 .

Four teams left the race completely because of the cases, others only made up a skeleton team at the end, such as Bora-hansgrohe.

"I'm crossing my fingers that I won't get Corona," said the German champion Maximilian Schachmann, who was thrown back at the beginning of the year after a Corona disease and a serious infection.

According to Denk, his three colleagues who tested positive only have mild symptoms, "which gives us a positive feeling for the Tour de France".

Wlasow was intended as a man for the overall standings in the Tour of France.

"We haven't given up.

There's still a chance.

You have to wait a week now.

If he is negative, he can get back on the wheel.

He's not training at the moment," explained Denk.

Pogacar's rival Primoz Roglic's team was also affected.

Jumbo-Visma was the first to leave the race after Corona cases in the team, which is why no driver from the Swiss squad will initially travel to Roglic in the training camp in Tignes.

According to Denk, all drivers must submit a mandatory PCR test before the start of the tour, after which testing should be carried out on the rest days, as in the past two years.

There was no positive case in the 2020 and 2021 editions, but the tour entourage was strictly isolated at the time and moved in its own bubble.

Since this season, the world association UCI has relaxed the rules again.

"If we isolate ourselves again from the fans, from the journalists, then at some point the flair of the sport will be lost," said Denk: "I have a stomach ache."