Four teams left the race completely because of the cases, others only made up a skeleton team in the end, like Bora-hansgrohe. “I’m crossing my fingers that I won’t get a corona,” said the German champion Maximilian Schachmann, who had already been thrown back at the beginning of the year after a corona disease and a serious infection. According to Denk, his three colleagues who tested positive only have mild symptoms, “which gives us a positive feeling for the Tour de France”.
Mandatory PCR tests before the start of the tour
Wlasow was intended as a man for the general classification in the Tour of France. “We haven’t given up. There’s still a chance. You have to wait a week. If he’s negative, he can get back on the bike. He’s not training at the moment,” explained Denk. The tour kicks off in Copenhagen on July 1st.
Pogacar’s rival Primoz Roglic’s team was also affected. Jumbo-Visma was the first to leave the race after Corona cases in the team, which is why no driver from the Swiss squad will initially travel to Roglic in the training camp in Tignes.
According to Denk, all drivers must submit a mandatory PCR test before the start of the tour, after which testing should be carried out on the rest days, as in the last two years. There was no positive case in the 2020 and 2021 editions, but the tour entourage was strictly isolated at the time and moved in its own bubble. Since this season, the world association UCI has relaxed the rules again.
At Bora you try to let “common sense prevail”. “If we isolate ourselves again from the fans, from the journalists, then at some point the flair of the sport will be lost. That gives me a stomach ache,” said Denk. You have to come to terms with the virus.