The 109th Tour de France has its first Corona cases. On Saturday, the Frenchman Geoffrey Bouchard and the Norwegian Vegard Stake Laengen had to give up the race after positive tests, as the respective teams announced.
Bouchard drives for the French team AG2R, Laengen was a helper for the leader Tadej Pogacar for the UAE team. This brought the number of tasks on this year’s tour to six. The other four riders got off their bikes due to fall injuries.
“Vegard was negative in our internal tests on Friday morning. In the evening he complained of a sore throat and a rapid test was positive. A PCR test confirmed the result,” said UAE doctor Adriano Rotunno. AG2R announced that all drivers and supervisors were given quick tests every three days. There were tests by the organizers. Before the start of the tour in Copenhagen, six drivers had to leave due to positive tests. On the first rest day on Monday there are mandatory tests for all drivers and supervisors.
The world association UCI had relaxed the corona rules a few days before the start of the tour. Instead of PCR tests, only quick tests were sufficient, and a team no longer has to leave the race after two drivers have tested positive. A new rule also states that a driver can remain in the race despite a positive test if he is symptom-free and not contagious. Such was the case with Luxembourg’s Bob Jungels, a teammate of Bouchard.