The Tour de France started with 176 riders, but the race was down to just 140 after 18 stages when three riders with COVID-19 withdrew before the stage to Autacam.

Chris Froome (Israel Premier Tech) raced stage 18 but returned home after testing positive.

Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) and Imanol Elviti (Movistar), who were 22nd overall and part of the stage 16 breakaway to Foix, also left the race after testing positive.

COVID-19 is the biggest cause of athletes dropping out of the race. Since the pandemic began, at least 17 riders have tested positive in the third Tour de France.

In the past two Tours, strict sanitary measures prevented the transmission of the coronavirus, but with the return of spectators and the loosening of the race bubble, the latest highly contagious variant has swept through the peloton.

Stage 5:

The first rider to abandon the race was Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious). He crashed on the cobblestone stage, hitting a hay bale thrown into the exit of a roundabout and tumbling over. Michal Gogl (Alpecin-Deceuninck) also abandoned the stage due to a fall.

Gogl, along with Daniel Oss (Total Energy), fell after hitting a spectator who ran out into the road to take a picture. Gogle suffered a broken collarbone and pelvic and iliac fractures.

Stage 6:

Alex Kirsch (Trek-Segafredo) struggled, fell out of the race, and eventually retired. Os completed stage 5, but did not start after X-rays showed a fractured vertebrae.

Stage 8

The first COVID-19 cases since the start of the Tour occurred on stage 8, when Rehngen and Jeffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroen) tested positive and left the race. Astana's Gianni Moscon also left the race suffering from the aftereffects of a previous COVID-19 infection.

Stage 8

Kevin Vermaquet (Team DSM) crashed in a group crash during the stage, breaking his collarbone.

Stage 9

Caspar Asgreen (Quick Step-Alfa Vinyl) retired due to a left knee injury sustained in the Tour de Suisse, and Cofidis GC leader Guillaume Martin tested positive for COVID-19 EF Education-Easy Post's Ruben Guerreiro did not start this stage due to an illness that the team announced was not related to the coronavirus.

Stage 10:

George Bennett joined the ranks of the COVID-19 positives and Taddei Pogachar lost an important helper. Luke Durbridge (BikeExchange-Jayco) also tested positive before the stage. Ben O'Connor, who had struggled since his crash on stage 2, left the race with a torn muscle in his hip. Alexis Vuillermoz (Total Energies), who vomited on stage 9 and collapsed at the finish, was found to have a skin infection and retired.

Stage 11:

Mathieu Van der Pol (Alpecin-Desseuninck) fought after a tough Giro d'Italia, but could not find his form and abandoned. The same day, Oliver Naessen (AG2R Citroen) saw all the symptoms of COVID-19 but did not test positive and left the race.

Stage 13:

Warren Barguil (Arkea Samsic) abandoned stage 13 after testing positive for COVID-19. The Frenchman had attacked on the stage to Alpe d'Huez just one day earlier. Victor Lafaye (Cofidis) was one of a group of three riders who finished last in the Alpe d'Huez on Thursday. He abandoned the Tour the following day on stage 13 between Le Bourg d'Oisans and Saint-Etienne.

Stage 15:

Jumbo-Visma made the surprising decision to pull Primoš Roglic from the Tour de France. He said he needs to recover from injuries sustained in an earlier crash. He had to leave the race because Steven Kruijswijk crashed midway through the stage, leaving him out of the race with a separated shoulder.

Magnus Kort (EF Education - Easy Post) and Simon Clark (Israel - Premier Tech), both stage winners, did not start with a COVID-19 positive.

On the same stage, Michal Morkov (Quick Step-Alphavinil) bravely fought his way through 200km alone at the front of the broom wagon, but missed the time cut.

Stage 16:

After a rest day batch test, more positive results came before stage 16: AG2R Citroën started with just three men after Mickael Scherer and Aurelien Pare-Pantol tested positive. Max Warscheid (Cofidis) also tested positive. Leonard Kemna (Bora-Hansgrohe) did not test positive but left the race. Jakob Fuglsang (Israel Premier Tech), who broke a rib in a weekend crash, did not race on Tuesday.

Soler became ill during the stage and finished 15 minutes behind.

Stage 17:

Pogacar lost an important teammate when Rafau Mayka left the race with a muscle tear after breaking his chain on a climb the day before. The same day, Tim Wellens, the hope of Lotto Soudal, tested positive for COVID-19 and retired.

Stage 18:

By stage 18, three more riders had fallen victim to the coronavirus. Chris Froome, who was doing well in the Alpe d'Huez, retired