Olympic postponement talk, Tour forging ahead for now: Daily News Digest
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Hello again, CyclingTips readers.
While race postponements and cancellations have been all over the headlines lately, plans for one of the biggest events of the year (of every four years, for that matter) have remained officially unaltered – but that seems set to change.
Dick Pound, a longtime member of the International Olympic Committee, has told USA Today that the Tokyo Olympics will be postponed, likely to 2021. An official announcement has yet to come, and it is not clear whether organizers will make one soon, but Pound’s statements are a pretty strong indicator that the IOC is listening to mounting criticism from athletes, national organizations, and voices across the media.
Meanwhile, apparently the organizers of the Tour de France committed to holding the race this summer. Le Parisien reports that, at the moment, the ASO continues to plan on the Tour taking place as originally scheduled.
June and July remain a ways off, of course, but it’s certainly a story we will continue to follow in the coming weeks.
Until next time, readers.
What’s news
| Pound says Tokyo Olympics will be postponed
IOC member Dick Pound has told USA Today that the Tokyo Olympics will be postponed, likely to 2021.
“On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided,” Pound said, according to USA Today. “The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know.”
| For now, organizers still planning for Tour to go ahead as scheduled
Le Parisien reports that the ASO continues to plan for the Tour de France to start on its initially scheduled date of June 27, possibly running without spectators or an advertising caravan.
According to Le Parisien, some teams have been told that the ASO remains firm in its intentions to run the Tour as planned.
| UAE Tour: Some riders, staff still in quarantine
L’Equipe reports that multiple riders and staff members remain in quarantine in an Abu Dhabi hospital nearly a month after the UAE Tour was halted following the announcement that two team staffers had tested positive for coronavirus.
While nearly all riders, team staff, organizational staff, and media have headed home, according to L’Equipe, Fernando Gaviria, Max Richeze, Dmitry Strakhov, and five others are still in the UAE.
| Bennett adjusting to life on lockdown
Like so many other riders in Europe right now, Andorra-based Kiwi George Bennett is adjusting to life on lockdown and spending plenty of time on the trainer. He outlined his daily routine in an interview with Cyclingnews and joked that he has not quite been dominating the Zwift races like you might expect from a WorldTour pro.
“I’ve not managed to crack the top-10 yet in a race, which is kind of depressing,” he said. “They’re hard. It doesn’t help living at 2,000 meters but the team has told us that we’re not going to be racing for a long time. They’ve told us not to worry too much about training and not to try and stay too skinny because at some point we’re going to have to really lock it down and try to train hard. When that happens we’re really going to need bullets for that moment. So we’re doing what we can do try and make it fun.”
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SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY NEWS DIGEST PODCASTToday’s featured image of Mike Teunissen winning stage 1 of the Tour de France comes from the Grubers.
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