He’s an old friend that the runners are not at all happy to see again. A last-minute (unwanted) guest for this big departure of the 111th Tour de France from Florence: the coronavirus. Several riders have been ill in recent weeks, such as Frenchman David Gaudu, who had to cancel his participation in the French Championships last Sunday.
Worse, some were even forced to withdraw because they were insufficiently recovered, like the British Tao Geoghegan Hart or the American Sepp Kuss, Jonas Vingegaard’s strongman. Visma-Lease a bike has also put in place a protocol to combat Covid: riders and staff members could be increasingly masked and should be subjected to tests every day, according to Dutch media.
“I’m not sick, don’t worry. But I don’t want to relive the same thing that I experienced last year at the Giro, I just want to be careful as we are going to meet a lot of people in the next few hours,” explained Remco Evenepoel while appearing masked in front of the press at Palazzo Vecchio.
“I was completely knocked out one day”
In 2023, the Belgian, who is competing this year in his first Great Loop, had to abandon the Tour of Italy because of the virus, even though he was the leader. Just after him in the order of passage at the press conference, the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe), visibly relaxed, arrived without a mask. “I was told that everything was fine, but we know that danger lurks. As in life in general, you have to have a little luck (to escape it),” the Slovenian philosophized.
His compatriot and big favorite, Tadej Pogacar, said he was infected with the coronavirus in his preparation ten days ago. “But I’m in great shape!”, he wanted to reassure. Covid is much less serious than four years ago, my body has already been infected. The body knows what it is, it was like a cold. I was completely knocked out one day. I drove home and came out after a few days. »
At the start of the week, the director of the Tour, Christian Prudhomme, told AFP that masks would be “made available” if necessary, but that there would be no health protocol, as was the case. case at the height of the health crisis.
“We were alerted by our medical staff, we are going to get used to barrier measures again, but we had somewhat forgotten this virus. We are careful not to relive what happened three years ago. We have lost the habit of wearing masks,” recognizes the manager of the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale team, Vincent Lavenu.
On the side of another French team, Groupama FDJ which was affected last week, the riders were also re-sensitised. They were reminded to refuse selfies with spectators to reduce the risks. “David Gaudu had Covid, so we are not doing anything. But for the moment, we are not going into a reinforced protocol even if we are listening to the doctors. We have decided to carry out Covid tests every three or four days in shifts. All trades in the team will be tested in turn. For masks, this is not planned for the moment but obviously, we will remain flexible,” predicts Marc Madiot, the manager.
