happiness ChikwanhaPARIS. — The Tour de France cycling event will travel for 21 days around a whole country, passing through towns and cities and thousands of people.
Normally you would expect plenty of people along the route, packed in squares, millimetres away from the riders at the tops of climbs. Less of this will happen in 2020, a year which will go down in history for Covid-19.
This year, social distancing will be key and spectators’ presence will be managed, especially in the departure and arrival areas, according to the rules published by authorities. Fans and riders will have to keep distance and wear a mask at all times.
No kisses on the podium, no selfies with the athletes, no autographs. Stage winners and category leaders won’t be handed any flowers, prizes or jerseys: they will have to pick them up themselves and celebrate in solitude.
Since the season resumed with the Vuelta a Burgos, cycling authorities have done a good job to guarantee safety around the world of professional cycling, with virtually no in-race cases of Covid-19.
AG2R’s American rider Larry Warbasse tested positive last week and he had recently taken part in Il Lombardia. As a precautionary measure, the French team decided to prevent Geoffrey Bouchard, Axel Domont and Ben Gastauer from taking part in the last stage of the Tour du Limousin.
But in the majority of races, like Milano-San Remo and Il Lombardia, and the Criterium du Dauphine – the Tour’s general rehearsal – things have panned out well.
This is also what Xavier Bigard, medical director at cycling’s governing body the UCI and safety protocol coordinator, says: “As of today we can cross our fingers because we are very happy, but it’s an instant picture of the situation and things can change quickly.
“We have re-thought the moments in which contact can happen, from the riders signing to the arrival, from the award ceremony, to media activities.
“All team members have to undergo two diagnostic tests for Covid-19, six days and three days ahead of the start, while they have to compile a health check questionnaire twice a day during the race.
“We worked out the concept of the safety bubble: each team will have to create and maintain a protective bubble around itself to avoid any contact with external people, whose state of health cannot be guaranteed, while all team bubbles will link to form a peloton bubble.”
In fact, diagnostic tests will also take place on both rest days, while the role of team doctors will be essential: they are responsible for guaranteeing medical safety within their team’s bubble and check staff members’ condition throughout the race.
Much is at stake: if two members of a team log a high score on the questionnaire, and that means they could be at risk but don’t even need to be positive, the whole team will be expelled.
“An enormous job has been done to guarantee competition resumption and we are happy of how things have gone,” says Carlo Guardascione, head of medical at Team Bahrain McLaren.
“The UCI protocol is an important instrument, although not always easy to apply: Why are we having a Covid-19 swab six days ahead of the start, when all of the team members are at their homes? We have a three days range to run it and it’s over a weekend: how about laboratories being closed?’’ — BBC Sport.
Online Reporter