The 2020 Tour de France has been moved to an August start because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It had been scheduled for a start in June but will have a delay.
Race director Christian Prudhomme hopes that the event will start to bring a bit of cheer and normality back into the lives of people.
New Tour de France rate
The 2020 Tour de France will now start on August 29th and run through September 20th.
The organisers have pushed the race back as far as possible in the hope that by then, social distancing regulations will have been lifted.
Annually the Tour de France attracts a huge crowd of fans along the course of the three-week event.
The event will now be taking part at the same time as some of the European Athletics Championships which are scheduled for August 25th through the 30th in Paris.
The final day of the rescheduled 2020 Tour de France will be on the same day that the rescheduled French Open 2020 is due to start.
Fans could be kept away
There is a chance of course that the race could go ahead without any fans lining the streets and mountain passes. That will all be based on guidelines set by the French government.
France is under lockdown until at least May 11th.
President Emmanuel Macron announced earlier this week no public events that could draw large crowds are cancelled until the middle of July at least.
2020 Tour de France Winner Odds*
Egan Bernal 10/3
Chris Froome 5/1
Primoz Reglic 6/1
Thibaut Pinot 15/2
Nairo Quintana 15/1
Geraint Thomas 15/1
Tommy Dumoulin 11/1
Tadej Pogacar 18/1
Julian Alaphilippe 20/1
Simon Yates 20/1
Adam Yates 20/1
* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 00:22 GMT on Thursday 16th April 2020)
Bernal favourite to defend
Last year’s winner Egan Bernal is the current outright favourite at 10/3* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 00:22 GMT on Thursday 16th April 2020).
However, that does lead to another issue with the hosting of the Tour de France this year.
It would need borders across the world to be open to allow riders such as the Colombian to show up and take place. Most riders also take a couple of months of preparation ahead of a Tour de France.
