Tour may be left at start line

PARIS • For the Tour de France, one of the few remaining major sporting events still standing in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, the stop-watch is ticking.

While the Tokyo Olympic Games, Euro 2020, Wimbledon, the British Open and the Giro d'Italia have already been postponed or cancelled, cycling's most prestigious event is still scheduled to start on June 27.

But that date looks increasingly unrealistic for the 107th edition and Tour director Christian Prudhomme has made it clear that he wants "two months of exposure for the riders".

That means training rides and races, and with most competitors confined to their home countries, the chances of their getting back on the road by the end of this month look slim.

There are also no more warm-up events before the grand tour itself, following last week's cancellation of the Tour de Suisse, leaving riders with a distinct lack of preparation.

With France under stringent lockdown measures, which earlier this week was extended to "beyond April 15", not only are riders unable to compete in the country, but it also rules out spectators.

The Tour is a massive tourism pull, attracting 10 to 12 million spectators who stand by the roads to watch - a prospect that cannot be considered given the social-distancing measures in place to tackle the spread of Covid-19.

Last week, Prudhomme already insisted public safety took precedence, saying: "The most important word in Tour de France is France and health concerns come first... It would be a lie to say that we are not studying other hypotheses."

The worsening situation across Europe suggests a postponement is increasingly likely and sources told Agence France-Presse that the Tour organisers have sounded out cycling teams, as well as French politicians and broadcasters, about a two-month delay to August.

While France Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu previously floated the idea of banning spectators, that idea seems to have died.

The Tour is fuelled by the crowd and it would be hard to prevent people coming out of their houses when the race passes by. Welshman Geraint Thomas, the 2018 winner, believes that "without the fans, it wouldn't be the Tour de France".

Many politicians from towns along the route have echoed the same sentiment, with the Tour seen as a festive and symbolic event.

It also represents a financial lifeline for many teams, with the boss of French cycling team AG2R, Vincent Lavenu, revealing "60 per cent of earnings in a season" comes from the race.

But with no end in sight for the Covid-19 crisis, some are contemplating the worst-case scenario.

Frenchman Bernard Hinault, a five-time winner of the event, told an affiliate of Radio France: "250 races around the world have been cancelled. So why not the Tour de France?"

The fallout will, however, have dire financial consequences.

"Without the Tour de France, cycling would have a very big problem," Ralph Denk, boss of the Bora-Hansgrohe team, told German daily Die Welt.

Patrick Lefevere, the head of the Deceuninck team, agreed, telling Belgian daily Het Nieuwsblad: "If the Tour were not to be raced, it would be a hard blow that (Tour organisers) ASO could probably absorb, but not the teams.

"It could bring down the whole model on which our sport is built."

Given that there are no cycling events until late June at the earliest, the sport's governing body, UCI, on Thursday night revealed cost-cutting plans, which include furloughing its 130 employees amid "a crisis without precedent since the World War II".

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE