Nice (France): Delayed but alive again and out on French roads, the strangest Tour de France ever set off in a bubble of anti-COVID protocols to try to keep the 176 riders virus-free for three weeks of racing through the country’s worsening epidemic.
Only after riders peeled off their face masks and pedaled off from the start in the Mediterranean city of Nice, serenaded by a uniformed band playing “La Marseillaise,” did the Tour begin to look like its old, pre-COVID self, immediately delivering thrills and spills as storms made the roads as slippy as ice Saturday .
But with fans kept firmly at arm’s length, told by the government that it was best to stay home and watch the racing on television, the Tour has lost much of its festive atmosphere. (AP)
