A second rider from the Tadej Pogacar yellow jersey team, New Zealander George Bennett, is to leave the Tour de France after testing positive for covid-19, the UAE team announced before the start of the 10th stage in Morzine ( Haute-Savoie).
Pogacar had already lost a first teammate last Saturday in the person of the Norwegian Vegard Stake Laengen. Bennett is the second positive case of the day after Australian Luke Durbridge (BikeExchange).
A total of five runners dropped out of the race after testing positive for covid. The French Geoffrey Bouchard and Guillaume Martin had to leave for this reason last weekend.
The entire peloton passed a regulatory detection test on Sunday evening which gave a negative result for all the riders.
The various teams also carry out internal tests, at intervals of one to two or three days for the most part.
Bennett’s forced retirement leaves Pogacar surrounded by five teammates for the alpine stages and the rest of the Tour.
The New Zealander, who ran until last year for the rival formation Jumbo, was especially expected in the mountains, next to the Polish Rafal Majka and the American Brandon McNulty who are the first lieutenants of the yellow jersey.
In recent days, Bennett (32) had shown less efficiency than expected.
