All teams to start Tour's 16th stage after negative COVID-19 tests

[September 15, 2020]    LA TOUR DU PIN, France (Reuters) - All 22 teams will start the 16th stage of the Tour de France after riders and staff members tested negative for COVID-19, organisers and the sport's governing UCI said on Tuesday.

The peloton in action REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

French health authorities and organisers Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) had said that if two members of a team, riders or staff, tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the whole outfit would be excluded from the race.

"The screening campaign which has taken place over the past 48 hours is ... the fourth since the beginning of the event. Its objective is to guarantee the health of the race for the riders and accredited personnel in the face of the novel coronavirus," the UCI and Tour owner Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) said in a statement.

"Overall, each of the 785 tests carried out returned negative results.

"The organisers of the Tour de France and the UCI would like to thank all of the teams for their collaboration and for the vigilance that they have shown and will continue to show up until the finish in Paris."

Four teams had one staff member testing positive in the previous round of tests last week, but organisers reset the day-counter for the second round.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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