Visma | Lease a Bike justify decision to enter corona protocol: "It makes sense if you look at how much we invest in the Tour de France"

Visma | Lease a Bike had to cancel Vuelta a Espana winner Sepp Kuss for the Tour de France last week because the American had not recovered from a corona infection. This put the Dutch team on enough alert that they immediately enter a partial corona protocol for the Grande Boucle. And it turns out that several teams had positive corona cases in recent weeks, including Tadej Pogacar, David Gaudu and Tao Geoghegan Hart.

The riders and employees of Visma | Lease a Bike who flew to Florence had their face masks on again in recent days. The team will do a rapid test on everyone every day during the Tour and has also brought along a PCR device for more extensive testing. Furthermore, anyone who shows signs of a cold will be immediately isolated.

In busy places, everyone in the team has been advised to wear a face mask. Everyone is also advised to disinfect their hands more than regularly. "But it won't be easy to convince everyone of the need for this protocol," the team told WielerFlits. "If you see how much we as a team are investing in the Tour de France, it makes sense to try to prevent a corona infection from spreading through the team."

At Kuss, the team further learned how capricious the virus can still be. A large number of tests were negative, but the American ultimately tested positive for corona. Furthermore, he continued to have symptoms of the virus for much longer than expected.