(NICE, France) – Delayed but living on French roads, the strangest Tour de France ever introduced on Saturday into a bubble of anti-COVID protocols to keep the 176 cyclists virus-free for 3 weeks of racing through the epidemic that worsens in the councheck out.
Only after the cyclists took off their masks and ran from the beginning in the Mediterranean city of Nice, with a serenade through a uniformed gambling organization “La Marseillase”, the Tour began to resemble its former pre-COVID self, without delay provides emotions. Typhoon spills have made roads as slippery as ice.
But with the fans firmly in check, with the government saying it’s better to stay home and watch the races on TV, the Tour has lost much of its festive vibe. venerable 117-year-old roadshow so unique among sporting occasions in a more carefree time.
Norwegian Alexander Kristoff won first level with a chilling final sprint, and celebrated by giving a teammate a COVID-sensitive blow.
Winning the first level earned Kristoff the first yellow jersey of the 2020 Tour, which he will wear as the race leader at the level of Sunday’s moment riding through the mountains behind Nice – usually a race official or VIP will do it. would have helped put on the iconic jersey. , one of the coveted and recognizable highs in sport, but not this year, with social distancing being the priority.
Kristoff was alone on the winners’ podium, flanked by a host and hostess in the distance. He then disappeared backstage to twist on the T-shirt, before posing again for the photos. However, the thrill of dressing up in the shirt for the first time in his 8 more laps that compensated for the strangeness.
“A feeling, ” he told reporters on arrival. “It means a lot to my career and a level victory shows that I can still be there, even at 33 and with 4 children.
With infections constantly expanding across France, the Tour has no guarantee of reaching the end in Paris on 20 September. Runners will undergo daily fitness checks and coronavirus tests during the race, and may be rejected if they fail. It will be sent home if two or more brokers or staff members tested positive for COVID-19 within a week. Fans were told not to do techniques for runners to take selfies or autographs and to wear masks.
Jean-Michel Blanquer, the French sports minister, was positive at the beginning on Saturday, saying that the Tour had only a “very small” chance of being cancelled before Paris, but also warned that “anything is possible”.
“This kind of thing can happen, but of course I hope it doesn’t happen and I don’t think it’s because the Tour organizers have done an amazing job,” he said.
Fans who waited for the Tour to resume, after the race was postponed from July, were rewarded with some great drama: the 156-kilometer (97-mile) first level that did 3 laps around Nice and the mountainous interior north of the city. The storms left the asphalt so slippery that the drivers nevertheless made a pact among themselves on the road to slow down after several accidents.
Among the highest spectacularity, Colombian driving force Miguel Angel López skated head-on in a traffic signal and worked to the end. Another clash led a group of passengers to the board towards the line on Nice’s splendid waterfront.
“People collided almost at every corner,” Kristoff said. It was slippery there. “