Two weeks before the Tour de France, the Corona summer wave is giving cycling a hard time. At the Tour de Suisse, a number of drivers had to retire from the race because of positive tests, including the Russian overall leader Alexander Vlasow from the German Bora-hansgrohe team.
The UAE team as well as the Bahrain Victorious and Alpecin-Fenix teams even withdrew their teams completely because of several cases, after the Dutch Jumbo Visma team had dropped out the day before. A total of 29 drivers did not start the sixth stage, but the tour will continue.
There was also a case in the immediate vicinity of Tour Champion Tadej Pogacar, who is currently working for the UAE team at home on the Tour of Slovenia. The Dane Mikkel Bjerg tested positive in the race. As a precaution, his Norwegian roommate Vegard Stake Laengen also had to leave.
The Corona outbreak is particularly alarming for the teams at the Tour de Suisse. More than 30 drivers have already had to leave the race. In addition to Wlassow, who had only taken over the yellow jersey the day before, the Bora team also met the German Anton Palzer. The EF-Education-EasyPost team reported that only two riders continued, including German Jonasrutsch.
“It’s not nice. We are sad that Corona has spread so widely among the teams. All the remaining teams have agreed to continue,” said race director Olivier Senn after a meeting in the morning. The Corona wave comes at the wrong time for the cycling teams. The 109th Tour de France starts in Copenhagen on July 1st.