RODEZ, France (Reuters) – Magnus Cort Nielsen and Simon Clarke became the latest COVID-19 casualties on the Tour de France when the two stage winners were pulled out of the race by their respective teams on Sunday.
“Magnus Cort woke up this morning with a headache and fever and has since tested positive for COVID-19. He will not start stage 15 of the Tour de France. His medical evaluation is ongoing,” his EF-Easy Post said in a statement.
Dane Cort Nielsen won the 10th stage in Megeve.
“After an internal routine test carried out by the team, unfortunately Simon Clarke has returned a positive Covid test. Therefore, Simon won’t take the start of stage 15,” Israel-Premier Tech said of their Australian rider.
Clarke won the fifth stage of the Tour in Arenberg.
Clarke’s and Cort Nielsen’s withdrawals mean that eight riders have now been pulled out of the Tour because of COVID-19.
Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic, the 2020 runner-up, abandoned the Tour on Sunday to recover from injuries sustained in a crash during the first week of the race.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Clare Fallon)
