Tour de France rest day COVID-19 testing begins moments after stage 9 summit finish

The spectre of COVID-19 has loomed over the first half of the Tour de France, with five riders having not made the start of the race due to positive tests and close contacts, a further three testing positive for the virus in the last two days, and another heading home suffering from long COVID.

After nine days of racing, the peloton now reaches its first rest day of the race (the move from Denmark to France was officially a ‘travel day’, though in reality a rest day for riders) and, with it, the first round of in-race COVID-19 testing.

The testing began soon after the finish of stage 9’s summit finish at Châtel, with riders turning back after crossing the finish line to head to their buses 5km down the mountain. Before they could climb on, shower, and head to the next hotel, though, they underwent the newly-introduced rest day antigen tests mandated by the UCI.

At the team buses lined along a forest road below Châtel, French police were on hand to block the road for press attempting to access many of the buses lined up, citing the presence of the COVID-19 testing tent partway down the road as the reason.

Some journalists, including Cyclingnews, negotiated access to the buses beyond the testing tent, including those of AG2R Citroën, Trek-Segafredo and Ineos Grenadiers. Filming and photographs were strictly forbidden, however.

Some teams have already been regularly testing during the race, per the UCI’s “strongly recommended measures”, though Sunday evening was the first time all 165 remaining riders would undergo tests, with team staff, commissaires, and other UCI staff to follow in Morzine later in the evening or on Monday morning.

Results are expected within hours, with any positive antigen test results to be confirmed by a further PCR test quickly afterwards. A further stage follows, with analysis of the viral load to confirm how contagious any person who tests positive may be, to be judged by a team doctor, the UCI’s chief doctor, and a doctor from race organisers ASO.

“If you are positive today, you can still wait for the PCR test,” Trek-Segafredo rider Jasper Stuyven told Sporza. “Unless your team doesn’t want that. As you can see there are a lot of ‘ifs’.”

Stage 9 winner Bob Jungels (AG2R Citroën) has that process to thank for being in the race to start with, having tested positive in tests leading up to the Grand Départ, but still being allowed to race due to his low contagiousness.

His teammate Geoffrey Bouchard headed home on Saturday before the…

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Tour de France rest day COVID-19 testing begins moments after stage 9 summit finish

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