Cycling UK Forum

There was an interview with the French Prime Minister on ITV 4 coverage this morning and he seemed very pleased with the arrangements. That doesn't offer any protection against the pandemic, of course, but it does suggest we are not on the point of some sort of official clampdown. André Greipel, who is now a senior rider expressed some concerns on behalf of fellow competitors but there was no hint of any protest by riders.

Apparently, all the riders will be tested on the rest day, tomorrow. That should offer the first medical indication of how things might be going.

Let's hope for the best

iandriver wrote:So what's with the awful enormous sunglasses this year?
Is it a semi-covid face protector thing?

Do you mean this sort of thing?


A couple of the CC lads have gone down this route.They look like Moto-X/Ski/DH goggles without the strap!
Pure fashion IMO.A bit like the daft 1970s style sunnies Women are wearing because some "influencer" or "famous" person wears them.

thirdcrank wrote:Apparently, all the riders will be tested on the rest day, tomorrow. That should offer the first medical indication of how things might be going.

Ineos riders were all tested yesterday before the stage started.

It's reported that all the riders were clear after the rest day tests but several others on the race tested positive

thirdcrank wrote:It's reported that all the riders were clear after the rest day tests but several others on the race tested positive

Including Monsieur Prudhomme:-
https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/tour-f ... 01725.html
I don't see an real issue here.Obviously people are going to test positive for months to come,possibly years.That isn't and shouldn't be news.Positive cases are rising but deaths are falling.Not rocket science is it?That's viruses for you.

the issue is that a single staff member each from Cofidis, AG2R, Ineos, and Mitchelton-Scott have tested positive for Covid. The reason why this is a big deal is that should a second team member test positive from any team, the whole team is then out of the race.

Needless to say the people concerned are being retested to ensure that there hasn't been a false positive; Ineos are one sneeze away from the defending champion being unable to defend.

cheers

With no medical expertise, I would assume that any positive tests next time round will be more likely in teams that have already had one. Presumably, the teams have the wherewithal to organise their own tests. Perhaps we will see some withdrawals for things like family reasons before the next rest day. I think somebody from the ITV4 commentary team said that support personnel could be substituted so there may also be some of that.

I hope everyone stays healthy.

Brucey wrote:the issue is that a single staff member each from Cofidis, AG2R, Ineos, and Mitchelton-Scott have tested positive for Covid. The reason why this is a big deal is that should a second team member test positive from any team, the whole team is then out of the race.

That is what is wrong with the whole situation.People are now testing positive but showing no symptoms.That is good.It means that we are doing what we've done throughout our evolution.Like Flu etc there will still be those that catch it and die but generally it will be harmless.If someone is ill and tests positive then by all means send them home,if not just leave them to it!

Leave the race alone.Leave all sports alone.
It's time for the scaremongering to take a backseat to good old common sense.This is the "second" wave that everyone's predicted it's just not panning out as the media would have wanted!

I wonder how many staff they have at the race, whether they've considered the fewer staff, maybe the lesser chance of positive tests, maybe it's easier to isolate staff away from the race, so perhaps they could have 2,3 or 4 teams of staff on rotation, let the first work a few days, then sub in the second team, etc. I don't know where the second positive has to be, if all the support staff have been substituted, then one tests positive the next day, whilst off the team, does that count or not? Will all the teams be carrying out their own secret tests then quietly subbing any positive team members for 'other reasons'?

It doesn't look good does it? Four positives already in the first week. Christian Prudhomme somehow isn't part of the race bubble. Go figure. It might look suspicious if a French rider wins after other contenders are sent home after asymptomatic positives on their teams.

Navara wrote:

Brucey wrote:the issue is that a single staff member each from Cofidis, AG2R, Ineos, and Mitchelton-Scott have tested positive for Covid. The reason why this is a big deal is that should a second team member test positive from any team, the whole team is then out of the race.

That is what is wrong with the whole situation.People are now testing positive but showing no symptoms.That is good.It means that we are doing what we've done throughout our evolution.Like Flu etc there will still be those that catch it and die but generally it will be harmless.If someone is ill and tests positive then by all means send them home,if not just leave them to it!
!

This was the case from the beginning, it's just that people didn't understand the difference between case fatality and infection fatality ratio. Difference now is lots of testing.

Not sure about positive test counts but in general it does make sense to do lots of daily tests and to try not to mix groups, because even if the IFR is very low, which it always was, you do at least want to try to stop it from spreading to peloton

In the build up today it was mentioned that four teams had one staff member prove positive, now each of those teams now only require one more positive test and they are out.

Postboxer wrote:I wonder how many staff they have at the race,

30, according to today's highlights. I'm not sure if that includes riders.

Christian Prudhomme somehow isn't part of the race bubble. Go figure.

He was meeting dignitaries, briefing reporters and hosting guests. How could he be part of the race organising bubble?

mjr wrote:

Christian Prudhomme somehow isn't part of the race bubble. Go figure.

He was meeting dignitaries, briefing reporters and hosting guests. How could he be part of the race organising bubble?

He would have been wearing a mask which we are told makes it OK.If this is not the case then why are we wearing masks?

The mask is more to reduce the risk of others being infected by the mask wearer.

Why have visiting dignitaries and guests? If they are needed to be invited, why do they have to meet Christian Prudhomme?

I'm getting a little suspicious of the riders suddenly having bad days on what on paper appear to be easier days.

Navara wrote:[
He would have been wearing a mask which we are told makes it OK.If this is not the case then why are we wearing masks?

Don’t know where you live but we are told mask wearing reduces the risk. Common sense also says spending hours in a car with an infected person you’ll need a miracle not to catch it.