The Covid-19 continues to mark this 2022 edition of the Tour de France. Following the weekly antigen and PCR tests carried out on Sunday, the AG2R-Citrën formation announced, on Tuesday July 19, the withdrawal of two of its riders. “Following the collective decision of the UCI doctor, the Tour de France doctor and the AG2R Citroën team doctor, Aurélien Paret Peintre and Mikaël Chérel will not start the sixteenth stage this morning in Carcassonne. reports a press release.
The weekly Covid tests carried out by the Tour organization turned out to be positive for Mika and Aurélien. They will not start today. The other runners and the staff have all tested negative and are continuing the race.
Get well guys pic.twitter.com/hpquTWTdNt
— AG2R CITROËN TEAM (@AG2RCITROENTEAM) July 19, 2022
A hard blow for the French formation, which had already lost Geoffrey Bouchard for the same reason, and which only has three riders left for the 2022 edition: Frenchman Benoit Cosnefroy, Belgian Stan Dewulf and Luxembourger Bob Jungels, winner of the 9th stage.
Before leaving the race, Aurélien Paret Peintre was 24th in the general classification (fifth highest ranked Frenchman) and was 59 minutes and 50 seconds behind the Danish leader Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma). His teammate Mikaël Chérel was 63rd in the standings, 1h45 behind the top of the standings.
The German sprinter Max Walscheid (Cofidis) is also excluded from the race for the same reasons. “He was important for us especially at the start of the stage and we will miss him a lot at the end of the Tour”underlined his teammate Benjamin Thomas, who came very close to victory in Carcassone.
They are the 7th, 8th and 9th runners to have to leave the race due to positive Covid-19 tests, after New Zealander George Bennett (UAE), Norwegian Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE), Australian Luke Durbridge ( BikeExchange) and the French Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroën), Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic), and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis).
Finally, the German Lennard Kämna (Bora Hansgrohe), due to a persistent cold, did not start this 16th stage when he was in 26th place overall.