The UCI has confirmed the results of the Covid testing completed yesterday evening going into today’s second rest day of the Tour de France. The testing is a mandatory test to ensure that all riders have been checked independently of their teams. The rest day tests have been a source of potential worry for the GC contenders as they could be forced to withdraw from the race.
The UCI has said that only two riders have not returned negative Covid-19 tests as part of their testing. They also confirmed that the two riders are not in the top-20 of the general classification.
[The riders] will need “complementary biological examination. While these riders are completely asymptomatic, security measures (isolation of the two riders) have been implemented to protect the other participants.
A final decision on their participation will be taken by tomorrow (Tuesday) morning in a collegial manner by the concerned parties (COVID-19 event and team doctors, and the UCI medical director.”
UCI
The next steps will be to test for viral load and if they are at an acceptable level, the two riders may still be allowed to participate. This is the situation that happened with Bob Jungels leading into the Tour de France. He tested positive but was able to show his viral load wasn’t contagious and started the race, then went on to win a stage too.
The decision will be made between the Tour de France race organisation, the UCI and team doctors.
A total of 8 riders have left the race after testing positive for Covid in this year’s Tour de France. Including stage winners Magnus Cort and Simon Clarke. These have largely been a result of the teams’ own testing as the last rest day tests produced no positives.
Last year, if two members of a team tested positive for COVID the whole team would be sent home, which is not the case in this year’s Tour de France.
