Tour de France to be postponed until late August due to Lockdown

Rumours of a late summer start August 29 - September 20 take shape

Cycling’s shutdown was extended until mid-July by French President Emmanuel Macron who is focussed on containing the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The Tour de France was due to start in Nice on 27 June, but that now seems highly unlikely.

Macron moved to extend the lockdown period for France past May 11 with only gradual lifting of the measures if the incidence of COVID-19 decreases.

The worlds largets sporting event, the Tour de France winds its way for thousands of miles through the towns and villages of France in a wide loop for three weeks ending on the Champs Elysees in Paris.

In a string of rumours emerging this week, the Tour now has a speculated start date in late August.

French sports daily L'Equipe recently spoke to 94-year-old Raphael Geminiani, who raced the Tour in 1947, who said if the race went ahead it could bring France back to life , "This period of confinement will hurt us all morally for some time. We will need a cure for it and a Tour de France would help give us a sense of stability," he said.

The virus has killed over 14,000 people in France. Schools, restaurants, cafés, cinemas will remain closed until May 11 and there will be no large public gatherimgs before mid-July.

The postponed Critérium du Dauphiné, a build-up to the French Grand Tour, originally scheduled to take place from May 31 to June 7, is now looking very unlikely to take place ahead of a re-scheduled Tour de France.

Following the postponement of Euro 2020 and the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Tour de France - was the last major global sporting event not yet cancelled.

The Giro d'Italia, which was due to take place in May, has already been postponed, but no decision has been taken as yet on the Vuelta a Espana, scheduled to start on 14 August.

Cycling Faces Economic "Meltdown" If Tour De France Cancelled

The Tour de France is not only a French monument, but also the economic heartbeat of professional cycling itself and analysts fear heavy consequences if the coronavirus crisis forces its cancellation. 

Usually, up to 12 million fans line the roads as the Tour makes its way through the French countryside and towns and cities for three weeks every summer.

"It's as simple as this. If the Tour does not take place, teams could disappear, riders and staff alike would find themselves unemployed," said Marc Madiot, the chief of top French outfit Groupama-FDJ.