Cycling: The Tour de France 2020 will take place from June 27th to July 19th - that's the plan. But the closer the date gets, the more the organizers come under pressure because of the corona virus.
Professional cycling needs the Tour de France
In 1946 the Tour de France could not be held for the last time. France and the world suffered from the consequences of the Second World War. Now it looks like the Tour de France 2020 will also have to be canceled – because of the corona virus. The Olympic Games have already been postponed, and the European Football Championship is not taking place either. But we are still waiting for a cancellation from the tour organizers today. This is for financial reasons. Because while professional football, for example, can cope with the financial losses, cycling would face a financial fiasco. As the Bild newspaper suspects, a cancellation would leave the Amaury Sport Organization with a hole of around 200 million euros. This number makes it clear: professional cycling needs the Tour de France. And by forgoing salaries, drivers may be able to save their employees, but not the entire industry.
Roger Kluge expects a tour cancellation
The current uncertainty is not at all pleasant for the professionals. Because while in Germany you can still train on the streets, the drivers in Spain have to remain in their own four walls. So even if the Tour de France could take place as planned, there would not be equal opportunities. The possibilities of preparation are far too different. Roger Kluge was therefore rather skeptical about the staging of the Tour of France. He himself does not expect the originally planned implementation. After all, the new infections would have to tend to zero beforehand and freedom to travel is not yet certain.
Roger Kluge:
"Cancelling a tour is certainly easier than the Olympics with 11000 participants. I would wait and see how the situation develops. We all train and it would be enough for me if the cancellation came two weeks before the tour.
Marcel Kittel speaks out against a tour without spectators
Even if Marcel Kittel himself will not take part in the 2020 Tour de France because he retired last year, the German is dealing with the current issue. To the newspapers of the Funke media group, he described the plan as "unreasonable" to allow the Tour of France to take place without spectators. The French sports minister, Roxana Maracineanu, recently made this suggestion. This would fulfill the contracts, but from the point of view of the affected cities, this idea also makes little sense. Because what good is Nice, for example, if the Grand Depart has to do without fans? The city paid around 18 million euros for this.
Marcel Kittel:
"That would be completely unreasonable. That would mean yes, we are thinking about a tour that would roll through France at a time when the corona virus would spread even further. Otherwise the spectators would not have to be protected. If the Corona crisis cannot be overcome quickly, it would be good if the tour took a break in the summer and was held later. You can't pull off the tour by any means."