Face masks, hand sanitizer gel, and PCR testing: if you thought they were a thing of the past in cycling, they are not. Visma Lease-a-Bike has partially reintroduced the COVID-19 protocol at the 2024 Tour de France, Wieler Fritz reported Thursday morning.

The Dutch website reported that the entire team, both staff and riders, will wear face masks on board the plane to Florence for the Grande Pearl, and all team members will be subjected to a rapid COVID-19 test each day. If further testing is required, a special PCR machine will be used.

While facemasks are again recommended for large gatherings, it is not certain whether teams will wear facemasks at the press conference that many top riders are expected to attend this evening prior to the team announcement. Those with cold or flu-like symptoms will be quarantined.

"It's not easy to convince everyone of the need for this protocol," a Visma Lease-a-Bike official told Wieler Fritz." But when you look at how invested we are in the Tour de Fance, it makes sense to try to prevent COVID-19 from entering the team."

Earlier this week, Visma Lease-a-Bike announced that Jonas Vingegaard's mountain support rider, Sepp Kuss, would not participate because he has not fully recovered from his COVID-19 infection. Kus had several negative tests before he tested positive, and he said that it has taken longer than expected for him to fully recover.

In other teams, David Gaudoux (Groupama-FDJ) recently contracted COVID-19 but skipped the French national championships to return to the Tour in order to fully recover.

With the pandemic sweeping the globe, most of the COVID-19 protocols in cycling introduced in 2020 were finally removed or no longer mandated by the UCI at the start of this season, well behind many other sports.

This followed the scaling back of the most stringent measures at the start of 2023, such as requiring all participants and members of the racing community to test negative for COVID-19 before entering a competition. However, important parts of the protocol remained intact.

For example, throughout the 2023 season, riders were technically required to wear face masks until a few minutes before the start, and limited isolation of infected riders was mandatory.

Even after these restrictions were removed at the start of this season, the UCI continues to recommend some practices.

"The virus is still circulating, with a slight resumption of the epidemic with the winter season," a UCI press release said in late December of this year.

"However, thanks to a massive vaccination campaign, the disease remains relatively mild, including in susceptible individuals.

"All effective measures taken during the pandemic, including the use of masks, hand hygiene, and ventilation of enclosed spaces, are still in effect today. Although there is no longer an obligation to isolate those who test positive, the continuation of barrier measures is essential. These are the responsibility of the team physician as part of standard prophylaxis against respiratory infections.

Last year's Giro d'Italia was the last Grand Tour to be severely affected by COVID-19, with several riders from Jumbo Visma (team name) forced to retire before the start, and race leader Remco Evenpole (Suredal-Quick Step) and most of his team subsequently retired.

Unlimited access to all Tour de France information - journalist reports, breaking news, and local analysis from each stage of the race. More info.