Two weeks before the Tour de France, cycling is being hit hard by the coronavirus summer wave. At the Tour de Suisse, a number of riders had to withdraw from the race due to positive tests, including the Russian overall winner Aleksandr Vlasov from the German Bora-Hansgrohe team.
The UAE team and the Bahrain Victorious and Alpecin-Fenix teams even withdrew their entire squads due to several cases, after the Dutch Jumbo-Visma team had already pulled out the day before. A total of 29 riders did not start the sixth stage, but the tour will continue nonetheless.
There was also a case in the immediate vicinity of Tour champion Tadej Pogacar, who is currently riding for the UAE team at home in the Tour of Slovenia. The Dane Mikkel Bjerg tested positive at the race. As a precaution, his Norwegian team-mate Vegard Stake Laengen also had to leave.
The coronavirus outbreak is particularly alarming for the teams at the Tour de Suisse. More than 30 riders have already had to withdraw from the race. In addition to Vlasov, who had only taken over the yellow jersey the day before, the Bora team was also hit by the German Anton Palzer. The EF-Education-EasyPost team reported that only two riders are continuing, including the German Jonas Rutsch.
"That's not nice. We are sad that corona has spread like this among the teams. All the remaining teams have agreed to continue," said race director Olivier Senn after a meeting in the morning. The corona wave has come at an inopportune time for the cycling teams. The 109th Tour de France starts in Copenhagen on 1 July.
Copyright 2022, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reserved
