NICE, France (AP) – The French government has made it difficult for Tour de France groups to succeed at the baseline in Paris by deciding that they will be kicked out of the race if two or more of their members, adding up staff, test positive for COVID. -19 in a week.
Following the rules issued through the fitness authorities, the movement was announced on Saturday through the Tour organizers a few hours before the start of the initial level of the three-week race in the blue city of Nice. He reversed a resolution through the governing body of cycling, the ICU, which had at ease the Rules of Exclusion of the Tour.
According to the ICU protocol announced Friday, the resolution to fire a team after two positive tests, not counting staff members.
There are 22 groups of 8 riders competing in the Tour, but a total of 30 members consists of the team when included.
“From two positive cases in a 30 organization, there is a genuine threat to get rid of a team,” Tour director Christian Prudhomme told France Info radio.
The revised UCI protocol had excluded from post-court calculations of groups that feared that their runners would be unfairly excluded from the race.
This week, 4 members of the Belgian Lotto-Soudal team were sent home after “non-negative” coronavirus tests. The team claimed that a mechanic and a runner’s assistant had returned “a positive result and a suspicious result.” They both left the racing bubble with their roommates.
On the occasion of a positive race result, the ICU suggested to the organizers “do everything possible” to conduct a new check and blood test before the next stage. The measure aims to avoid false positive controls that can exclude healthy runners.
Tour organizers have created a cell coronavirus lab that can produce effects in two hours and handles 50 tests consistent with the day on race days. However, Prudhomme stated that he may not be sure that a runner undergoes further testing before being withdrawn from the race after a first positive result.
“If it’s night, we’ll adapt so it can be done. But if we have a positive result in the morning, it is clear that it may not be on the starting line if we don’t have time for the following: test,” Prudhomme said.
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