Brian Coquard (Cofidis) and Daryl Impey (Israel Premier Tech) will miss the Tour de France due to positive COVID-19 tests, while Bob Jungels (AG2R Citroën), after a coronavirus diagnosis, is no longer infectious. He was determined to be no longer infectious and was cleared to race on Thursday morning.

Pierre-Luc Périchon will race the Cofidis Tour de France in place of Coquard, and Guy Niv will race the Israel Premier Tech in place of Impy.

Jungels tested positive for the COVID-19 PCR test on Wednesday and was at risk of missing the Tour. However, after further testing on Thursday morning, in accordance with the COVID-19 protocol revised by the UCI prior to the Tour, Jungels was cleared to participate in the Tour.

"After a PCR test on Wednesday showed a small amount of virus, @BobJungels underwent a new PCR test this morning. The results of this test confirm that he is not infected and UCI medical management has confirmed that he can participate in Le Tour."

There was no such respite for Daryl Impey, who missed Wednesday night's team presentation after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this week. Impey, who hails from South Africa, had moved from his home in Girona to Copenhagen in the hopes that his test results would return negative by the time he would be able to participate in the Tour, but he was confirmed on Thursday as he continued to test positive for both the antigen test and the PCR test, and was unable to participate in the Tour.

Impey is the second rider removed from the Israeli Premier Tech lineup by COVID-19, with Omer Goldstein replacing Guillaume Boivin earlier this week. Impey won a stage at the 2019 Tour and warmed up for this year's race by winning stage 4 of the Tour de Suisse.

"COVID got me during the week. No symptoms, so it's very frustrating for me," Impey said in a video on his personal YouTube channel (opens in new tab).

"I don't know how I'm going to make it through the next three weeks of the tour if I have to test every two or three days. Coronavirus is something we have to live with."

Impey crashed on the last day of last year's Tour, Ruta del Sol, fracturing his pelvis and missing the Tour.

"There is a positive side. Last year I was in a wheelchair watching the Tour de France. 'I'm still healthy, so I can put things in perspective for myself.'