Much ado about nothing, or a serious problem? Covid at the Tour de France

In most of the real world, Covid no longer dominates every waking thought. For the majority of the population, the idea of wearing a mask - unless you knew you were contagious - seems like something from another era, like wearing skinny jeans or thinking that Little Britain is a good idea.

However, the Tour de France is not the real world. It is its own thing, a law unto itself. And in this world, Covid is still in the foreground. 

It started with a few of the teams, the serious ones, like Visma-Lease a Bike, regularly wearing masks, from the beginning. Then, some riders began to test positive, like Michael Mørkøv (Astana Qazaqstan), Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), who was said to have "suspected Covid" before leaving the race.

Then the panic began. Suddenly, masks were reintroduced to anyone around the riders, although it seems like a bit of a lottery as to whether they were worn or not. Behind the barriers, anything was fine. There's no restriction on numbers, and the VIPs and spectators can still do as they like, but masks are on for some. 

Most teams, however, are not regularly testing. Test when there are symptoms, sure, but there seems to be a growing belief that, just like in the real world, the peloton has to live with Covid, and deal with the virus like a regular illness; colds are nothing new at a race as demanding as the Tour, especially when everyone mixes. Covid is different, and can be more serious - particularly with the causes and effects of long-Covid remaining unclear - but it's difficult to know what could actually be done.

Riders like Geraint Thomas have reportedly been ill at this race, but have continued, just like normal, really. There have even been false rumours spread, like the idea Egan Bernal has Covid, when, in fact, he's just a bit under the weather.

"If you have Covid now and it's a bit like a cold, you would just go to work, but unfortunately this is the Tour de France and it's a whole lot different," Zak Dempster, DS at Ineos Grenadiers, said. "We monitor these guys closely, we try to protect them the best we can, but sometimes you can't do everything."

"After Covid, everything got a little bit more strict," Wout Poels of Bahrain Victorious explained. "Safety-wise, you see more people getting sick, so there are some people with masks on. Everyone is aware of it and trying to protect themselves as much as possible. You have some periods when people are more relaxed, and then when people get stressed it gets more strict again."

While Covid is very present at the Tour de France, and has seen riders leave the race, it is not something that most teams seem overly concerned about. There's not too much that can be done, after all.

"You've just got to get on with it and see," Israel-Premier Tech's Jake Stewart said. "It's one of those things that's going to be around for a long time, and come in waves. A lot of people got it after the [Critérium du] Dauphiné. We just have to crack on as normal, and then do some testing if we come down with something and then make a call with the team from there. There's only so much you can do, especially when there are so many people here as well. 

"I know some people have had Covid and are cracking on, other guys make the decision to leave. We have Sepp Vanmarcke in the team, and he had his heart problems a few years ago, and he puts that partly down to Covid, so we would take it seriously if we tested positive."

It feels very 2022 to still be obsessed with the novel coronavirus, but among professional athletes at the top of their game, it remains a concern. How big an impact it will actually have on the race, though, seems limited, or at least not disastrous yet.