Tour de France to go ahead at end of August after coronavirus delay

(FASTNEWS | COVID-19) – The postponed 2020 Tour de France will now start on 29 August, following the French government’s extension of a ban on mass gatherings to mid-July because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Cycling’s biggest event, won by Team Ineos’ Egan Bernal last year, was originally scheduled to run from 27 June to 19 July.

“Holding this event in the best conditions possible is judged essential given its central place in cycling’s economy,” said the UCI, the sport’s governing body.

Many large-scale sporting events scheduled to take place this summer have either been called off, such as Wimbledon, or pushed back by a year, such as football’s European Championship and the summer Olympics.

Four-time winner Chris Froome is set to return at this year’s Tour, which is set to start in Nice, after he missed the 2019 race following a high-speed accident in which he broke his neck, femur, elbow, hip and ribs.

He tweeted: “The news many of us have been waiting for. Some light at the end of the tunnel.”