Tour de France postponed until August after France extends ban on public gatherings
The cycling world’s biggest race, the Tour de France, can’t escape being affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The race, which was scheduled to start on June 27 in Nice, has been postponed after French president Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday that France’s lockdown will continue until May 11, and public gatherings are banned until mid-July at the earliest.
While rescheduled dates weren’t expected until later in April, Tour organizers announced on Wednesday that the race would now begin on August 29 and end on September 20. The original 21-city, 2,000-mile route will remain the same.
"The Tour will take place two months later than planned. It’s never taken place so late before in its history, but it will take place from August 29 to September 20 and on the same parcours," race director Christian Prudhomme said, via Cycling News. "I had 49 elected officials from the host towns on the phone yesterday and they all gave their support."
Cancellation had been was on the table, but only as a last resort because numerous cycling teams depend on the Tour de France for a major part of their funding. The only other times the Tour was canceled was from 1915-1918, during World War I, and from 1940-1946, during World War II.
There was discussion early on about staging the race without fans, which number 500,000 per day. However that was handily dismissed by Prudhomme.
"The Tour de France is 3,000 kilometers of smiles," Prudhomme said, via AFP. "We won't run a Tour de France without the fans."
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