The spectre of the COVID-19 virus, the spread of which has begun to grow again in Europe this summer, is casting a worrying shadow over the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour de France Grand Départ in 💖Denmark as the days counted down to Frida🎉y opening time trial stage.

At the recent Tour de Suisse, the peloton was decim🌌ated by outbreaks and mass withdrawals, and the effects of༒ COVID-19 have continued to be felt during the lead-in to the Tour this week, with a number of riders, including Thibaut Pinot of Groupama-F🐻DJ and Stefan Bissegger of EF Education-EasyPost, only recovering in the final days before the start of the race.

On Tuesday, QuickStep-AlphaVinyl were forced to 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:replace Belgian workhorse Tim D🦩ecl﷽ercq with Florian Sénéchal, while on Wednesday morning,😼 UAE Team Emirates called up Marc Hirschi after ꦑMatteo Trentin tested positive. 

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Bob Jungels of AG2R Citroën facing a tense wait after testing positive for COVID-19 during the pre-race round of tests൲ on Wednesday. His 2022 Tour participa♚tion hinges on another test on Thursday having returning a sample with a "slight viral load" according to team doctor Serge Niamke. AG2R Citroën have said Greg van Avermaet will get a last minute call-up if Jungels is still positive. 

In accordance with the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:UCI's newly updꦐated COVID-19 p꧅rotocols issued on Tuesday, riders and staff have to be negative in antigen testin✨g carried out t🐼wo days before the start of the Tour.

On Wednesday morning Jumbo-Visma directeur sportif Merijn Zee💃man revealed he had tested positi🐠ve, setting off alarm bells in the Dutch team. Fortunately all their riders tested negative. 

"It's ꦯnot something new &nd🙈ash; it's something we've been going through the last two years," Jumbo-Visma leader Wout van Aert said about the protocols and spate of cases on Wednesday.

"I'd say within the team 🐻it's not a big difference to the feelings we had the last couple 𝐆years. Of course it's a bit more in the news with that happened in Suisse so everyone is more worried again.

"We never released all restrictions; we were always really careful, until now, knock on wood. Everyone is healthy. We do everything in our hands to🌠 keep it that way, so hopefully we can soon focus on the race."

Ineos Grenadiers' GC contende𒈔r Geraint Thomas said that the UCI's change to the COVID-19 protocols was a constructive move, pointing out that a whole team no longer have to leave the race in the event of two positive tests in their squad.

"The main thing is that if you have two positives, the team can stay in," he said. "That's the biggest positive ওto it. Teams will be less stressed. Imagine having the jersey, two go positive, and you all have to go home. It's good that's gone.

"Personally, I feel quite relaxed about it. It is what it is. It's the world 🍸we live in. It seems to be a lot less deadly especially with all boosters and all that jazz. It's all good."

Earlier on Wednesday, the round of final official testing saw another case emerge, with Astana Qazaqstan calling up Alexandr Riabushenko to replace their COVID-19-positive rider 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Samuele Battistella.

Israel-Premier Tech have switched their ro🥀ster too, with Omer Goldstein deemed a "high risk close contact" while travelling to Denmark. 

Guillaume Boivin has been called up, while a decision will be made on Daryl Impey's participation on Thursday morning after he too was deemed a close contact earlier this week. The South African has yet to joiℱn the team bubble and missed the teams presentation in Tivoli. Team sporting manager Rik Verbrugghe also tested positive while travelling to Denmark.

In a pre-race press conference, Ineos Grenadiers co-leader 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Adam Yates admitted that catching the virus at the Tour de Suisse severely affected ജhis Tour prepara♏tion.

He said that he'll find out in the opening time trial how his f🍸orm is doing, noting that, "I'm much better now, obviously, but I had maybe three or four days quite bad, to be honest.

"I had a proper fever and chills. I also missed the real🍸ly crucial stages in Suisse. I was waitin💟g for the weekend there to have a real test, so it's not ideal."

Yates was among numerous riders to catch COVID-19 in Switzerland, along with Ineos teammate Tom Pidcock. Fellow GC contender 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) left the race while in the the overall lead due to the virus, while the EF Education-EasyPost trio of Stefan Bissegger, Rigoberto Urán, and Alberto Bettiol also tested positive during the race. All managed to recover and test negative in final tests and so can start𝐆 the Tour de France on Friday.