No guarantee Tour de France will go ahead - sports minister

There is no guarantee that the Tour de France will go ahead this year due to the Covid-19 crisis, French sports minister Roxana Maracineanu said on Tuesday.

The Tour, cycling’s biggest event of the year, has been rescheduled to August 29th to September 20th. With crowd-drawing events being banned in France until the end of August, special arrangements might have to be made for the start of the Tour in Nice, the sports ministry said last month.

“Many people are begging me to keep the Tour even behind closed doors,” Maracineanu told France Television.

“I hope it will take place but I am not sure. We do not know what the epidemic will be like after lockdown.”

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France’s lockdown, in place since March 17th, will be partially lifted on Monday, although the seasons of several sports championships, including soccer’s Ligue 1 and rugby’s Top 14, have already been abandoned.

Maracineanu added that the Tour and tennis’s rescheduled French Open, expected to start on September 20th, could be held behind closed doors should the ban on popular events be extended.

“Just like the Tour de France, the French Open is the quintessence of professional sports with fans. The Roland Garros stadiums have many seats to fill, having it be played behind closed doors would be the worst solution but we would do it if the survival of those sports was at stake,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana will overlap in October under a new WorldTour calendar unveiled by cycling’s world governing body the UCI on Tuesday.

The Giro is scheduled to take place from October 3rd-25th, with a shortened 18-stage Vuelta slated for October 20th-November 8th.

The plan will see racing resume with a men’s and women’s edition of Italian one-day race Strade Bianche on August 1st, with the Vuelta the last race of the season. The accompanying women’s event, the Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta, would take place from November 6th-8th.