Tour de France: Michael Woods leaves with COVID on race’s final morning
A cruel time to quit the race for Israel-Premier Tech's Canadian climber. The team will race into Paris with four riders.
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There can’t be a much crueller time or way to leave the Tour de France. Michael Woods won’t be on the start line of the 115.6km final stage in Paris this afternoon after testing positive for COVID-19.
Woods had been positioned 36th overall after the stage 20 time trial. After a crash on stage 9, Woods had suffered through the Alps. He finished third in the breakaway on stage 16 into Foix, which was won by his teammate and fellow Canadian Hugo Houle.
The 35-year-old also left the race late last year, quitting after stage 18 in order to focus on the Tokyo Olympics.
Also read:
- Nathan Van Hooydonck abandons Tour de France before stage 20 due to ‘family circumstances’
- Chris Froome out of Tour de France with COVID-19
It means that Israel-Premier Tech are left with four riders in the race. Stage winner Simon Clarke and four-time Tour champion Chris Froome also left the race with COVID positives, while Jakob Fuglsang abandoned with a fractured rib.
Nevertheless, with Clarke and Houle’s stage wins, the team can consider it a successful race.
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