The 2020 Tour de France, the 107th edition of the world’s most prestigious bike race, has been indefinitely postponed. Le Tour was scheduled to begin June 27 in Nice and end July 19 in Paris.
President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday night that he was extending France’s countrywide lockdown and banning public events from being held before July 11. France currently has the fourth highest count of coronavirus cases in the world—more than 140,000—and has been in lockdown since March 17. The Amaury Sport Organization, which organizes the Tour de France, has thus far dismissed the idea of holding the 2,100 mile race without fans present roadside.
"The Tour de France is 3000km of smiles. We won't run a Tour de France without the fans,” ASO director Christian Prudhomme said, according to The Local France.
The Tour de France has been held annually since 1903 except for during World War I and World War II. The race was notably held in 1919 amid the Spanish Flu pandemic, which killed more than 400,000 in France. The UCI, world cycling’s governing body, has already imposed full or partial furloughs to 130 employees because of COVID-19.
