The Covid continues to spread in the Tour de France peloton.
Guillaume Martin will not be at the start of the 9th stage of the Tour de France, this Sunday between Aigle in Switzerland and Châtel.
The Frenchman from the Cofidis team indeed tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday evening.
The climber is thus the third participant in this 2022 edition of the Tour de France to be forced to withdraw because of the Covid after his compatriot Geoffrey Bouchard of the AG2R-Citroën team and the Norwegian Vegard Stake Laengen, a Tadej yellow jersey teammate. Pogacar.
“It can ruin the Tour”
Guillaume Martin had been complaining for two days of sore throats.
If Cofidis confirms that there is indeed a suspicious case within its workforce, the team refuses to give the name, specifying that the UCI, the international federation, will carry out another test and will then communicate.
165 riders will start the 9th stage.
After two editions disrupted by the pandemic, the specter of the Covid has returned to haunt the peloton since Saturday morning.
And that could weigh on the smooth running of the rest of the Grande Boucle, as was the case during the Tour de Suisse in June, when more than forty riders including the leader of the general classification had been disqualified.
“It can ruin the Tour”, warned yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar on Saturday in Lausanne after the 8th stage.