Two weeks before the start of the Tour de France, the Corona summer wave is giving cycling a hard time. At the Tour de Suisse on Friday, a number of riders had to retire from the race because of a positive test, including the Russian overall leader Alexander Vlasow from the German Bora-hansgrohe team. The UAE team as well as the Bahrain Victorious and Alpecin-Fenix ​​teams even withdrew their teams completely because of several cases, after the Dutch Jumbo Visma team had dropped out the day before. A total of 29 drivers did not compete for the sixth stage, but the tour will continue.
There was also a case in the immediate vicinity of Tour Champion Tadej Pogacar, who is currently working for the UAE team at home in the Tour of Slovenia. The Dane Mikkel Bjerg tested positive in the race. As a precaution, his Norwegian roommate Vegard Stake Laengen also had to leave.
The Corona outbreak is particularly alarming for the teams at the Tour de Suisse. More than 40 drivers had to leave the race on Thursday and Friday. In addition to Wlassow, who had only taken over the yellow jersey the day before, the Bora team also met the German Anton Palzer. The EF-Education-EasyPost team reported on Friday that only two riders continued, including German Jonasrutsch.
