Tour de France latest sport postponed by coronavirus and will no longer begin on June 27 with country in lockdown
THE Tour de France is the latest sporting event to be postponed due to coronavirus, according to reports.
Cycling's flagship race was due to get underway on June 27.
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But with France on lockdown and one of the countries affected worst by the pandemic, state that organisers have now finally agreed to put it back.
This year's event was due to start in Nice at the end of June and last for three weeks, finishing on the Champs-Elysées in Paris on July 19.
French President Emmanuel Macron effectively made the decision to postpone the 107th edition of the race in his speech to the nation on Monday when he announced that all public events with large crowds have been cancelled until at least mid-July.
Just shy of 15,000 people have died of Covid-19 in France with more than 136,000 confirmed cases of the virus.
Race organisers said on Tuesday: "Given that it's now impossible that the Tour starts at its planned date, we are consulting with the International Cycling Union to try and find new dates."
They are looking at putting the event back to a later date in the cycling calendar, although that could prove tricky, while the idea of staging it without fans was ruled out with millions turning out to take it in across many regions in France.
The Vuelta a Espana, owned by the same company as Le Tour, is still on the schedule for August 14 to September 6.
CALENDAR CHAOS
If the Tour de France were to be held after the Spanish Vuelta in September, it could clash with the rescheduled French Open tennis tournament.
The clay-court Grand Slam tournament at Roland Garros, normally in late May and June, has been pushed back to September 20 to October 4.
The Giro d'Italia - the other of the three Grand Tours in cycling - has already been called off, along with the Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix one-day races.
As it stands, the Road World Championships remain scheduled to take place at the end of September in Switzerland.
The last time the Tour was not held was in 1946, with the nation still recovering from World War II. It was also stopped during WWI.
This year's event is due to have 21 stages, with the longest of them stretching 135 miles. Thousands of police officers are needed to keep crowds under control and help negotiate safe passage for riders.
Riders, too, need to be both physically prepared to tackle the gruelling race and able to actually attend it so borders need to be open.
Otherwise, the likes of reigning champion Egan Bernal, from Colombia, would not be able to launch a defence of his title.
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Brits Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas, all riding for Team Sky, have won six of the last eight races between them.
Four-time winner Froome missed the race last year after suffering a horror crash just weeks before it got started.
He fractured his thigh bone, neck, elbow, hip and ribs after the smash at 33mph during a training ride.
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