A new case of Covid-19 in the entourage of Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian, who lost his yellow jersey on Wednesday on the slopes of the Col du Granon, will now be deprived of his sporting director, Matxin Fernandez. The Spaniard of UAE Emirates, close to the double winner of the Tour de France whom he had spotted in 2018, was forced to leave the race, he announced Thursday on Twitter.
“Now it’s me who must say goodbye to the main objective of the year, explains the sporting director. Last night (Editor’s note: Wednesday), I tested positive for COVID-19 during the internal check carried out by the team itself. I will support and believe in the boys and the team until death, the Tour continues. »
The Emirati team has already been weakened by the virus in this Tour de France. On Tuesday, New Zealand climber George Bennett was forced to forfeit, as was Norwegian Skate Vegard Laengen on Saturday. The Polish Rafal Majka, loyal lieutenant of Pogacar in the mountains, also tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday morning. But fortunately for the third in the general classification, he remains in the race, because asymptomatic and very weakly contagious.
In all, five riders have left the Tour since the start of the race. On Sunday evening, the whole peloton was tested by the UCI and the antigen tests all came back negative. The runners cover this Thursday the 165.1 km which separate Briançon from the finish at the top of Alpe d’Huez.