Tour de France Sans Spectators Under Consideration

The yearly Tour de France event is considering the option of holding the race without spectators, France’s sports minister says.

The race, which is currently scheduled to last from June 27th to July 19th, may likely still go ahead with its initial plans, albeit without any fans present, instead of canceling due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

“We have [imposed spectator bans] for other competitions before,” French sports minister Roxana Maracineanu said.

Maracineanu added that it’s too early to decide, although the Tour’s business model could get behind the race being run “behind closed doors,” as it doesn’t depend on “ticket sales like football or rugby.”

Major sports events are already getting postponed, such as May’s Giro d’italia, football’s Euro 2020 and the Tokyo Olympic Games, leaving only the final Grand Tour’s situation, due to begin on August 14th, as unclear.