Access to the Tour de France teams' paddock, where the riders' buses are located, will now be closed in order "to fight even more effectively" against the spread of Covid-19, the organizers announced on 12 September.
"Only the representatives of the International Cycling Union (jury, commissioners, anti-doping agents), the team staff, and the staff of the organization supervising the teams will now have access to it", specified the management of the Tour.
Media representatives and guests of the various teams, who could enter the paddock until today, will no longer be able to.
The measure was requested by several teams worried about the first positive cases of coronavirus detected in the Tour peloton.
Five runners have already given up because of the Covid-19, in full resurgence on French territory.
The noose has tightened in particular a little more around the yellow jersey of the Tour de France, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, who therefore lost Tuesday morning for this reason a second teammate, the New Zealander George Bennett, before the tenth stage in Morzine.
Pogacar had already seen the Norwegian Vegard Stake Laengen leave on Saturday morning within the UAE formation which had eight riders at the start of the event, like its rivals.
“We test ourselves every three days, some even every two days,” said Pogacar on Saturday after leaving Laengen.
“It is truly a worrying situation.
The Covid can ruin everything in the Tour.
This pandemic is here and unfortunately we are not spared.
We can't risk running sick, so we have to take this seriously.
We are on the road every day.
In the mountains, there are many people shouting encouragement.
This is something that I really like but it increases the chances of getting infected with the virus.
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Do everything to fight the virus
The day after the announcement of negative tests on Sunday evening for competitors in the Tour, two riders had the opposite result.
Australian Luke Durbridge (BikeExchange), who has mild symptoms, also had to leave the race.
On the other hand, the Pole Rafal Majka, one of Pogacar's lieutenants in the mountains, received the green light to continue the race.
“In accordance with our internal protocols, he was tested for Covid-19 and returned a positive result this morning.
He is asymptomatic and analysis of his PCR revealed that he had a very low risk of infectivity, similar to the case of Bob Jungels earlier in the race,” explained Dr Adrian Rotunno, UAE team doctor .
“As per protocol, we reported it to the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) medical team this morning,
which authorized Rafal to take the start just before the start of the race”, added the doctor, specifying: “We are aware that Rafal's clinical picture may change and we are closely monitoring his situation.
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Before the start in Copenhagen, Tour director Christian Prudhomme had urged Tour riders to avoid autographs and selfies.
But, in the Tour, wearing a mask is only compulsory for those accredited who approach the riders.
"There is a gap between life in general, with people who put the Covid a little behind, and the need to be more careful on the Tour", admitted the director of the Tour on Monday during the day of rest.
