The Tour de France could now run from late August into mid-September, meaning it could clash with the 2020 World Championships.
Speculation about the postponement of the Tour has been rife, as French president Emmanuel Macron announced that no sporting events would be held in the nation until at least mid-July.
While Spanish media this week suggested that the Grand Tours could be run from August through to October, a local council in France appears to have released the date of the final mountain stage.
The official Twitter account for the Haute-Savoie department in the in the Southeastern Alpine region of France said on Tuesday (April 14) that the last mountain day of the race, stage 18 from Méribel to La Roche-sur-Foron, will fall on September 17.
This would be place the start of the Tour at August 29, with the final stage in Paris on September 20.
These dates appear to have been confirmed by French newspaper Dauphiné Libéré, which reports it has obtained a leak confirming those dates.
But if the Tour does finish on September 20, that would cause an overlap with the World Championships, due to be held in Aigle, Switzerland from September 20-27.
The final stage of the Tour in Paris would clash with the elite men’s individual time trial, currently scheduled for September 20.
Tour de France organiser ASO had initially planned to wait until May to make a decision on postponing the Tour, but the President Macron’s announcement that France would be extending its coronavirus lockdown means the Tour is almost guaranteed to be delayed.
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Spanish newspaper Marca reported this week that the Tour could run through August, with the Vuelta a España taking place in September, and the Giro d’Italia being held in October.
While France’s sports minister previously suggested the Tour could be run without the millions of fans lining the roads, race director Christian Prudhomme has since shot down that idea. ASO has not yet made a decision on the fate of the Tour de France, but on April 2 Prudhomme said he is working on rearranging the dates for the three-week race.
