Paris:Less than three months before the Tour de France’s scheduled start, the possibility of cycling’s greatest show taking place remains shrouded in doubt, while the organisers have thrown up a wall of silence.
The highlight of the French sporting calendar is due to embark from Nice on June 27 and end on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on July 19. But with France entering its third week of coronavirus lockdown and more than 3,000 deaths in the country, organisers ASO are refusing to comment on their plans, other than to say they will act in the best interests of the general public. “There will be a huge hunger for sports when this is over,” ASO chief Christian Prudhomme said in early March. With the cycling world desperate to keep the 2020 Tour alive, AFP looks at three potential outcomes: This seems be the least likely scenario. Keeping the Tour on track is the key to cycling’s economic wellbeing. Unless the lockdown continues well into the summer, it would be hard to imagine the Tour being cancelled. “The Tour represents around 60 percent of earnings in a season,” French team AG2R boss Vincent Lavenu said. The 2018 champion Geraint Thomas agrees, telling the Daily Telegraph this week he feared for people’s jobs if the Tour was cancelled. “When you look back through the history books in 20 years’ time, if in 2020 there was no Tour, that doesn’t matter on the other hand, there are 20-odd teams.” he said. (AFP)
