Mountains and masks: Tour de France 2020 – in pictures
Steven Bloor
·7-min read
This year’s edition of the Tour de France was due to start in Nice on 27 June but in April, with the Coronavirus pandemic sweeping across Europe, president Emmanuel Macron announced all public events with crowds were to be banned until mid-July to fight the spread of Covid-19. There were fears it wouldn’t take place at all. In the end the race was delayed for the first time during peacetime since its inception in 1903, after event organisers, in agreement with the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), decided to postpone the race, with Nice hosting the Grand Départ on 29 August.
Click on an image and then the ‘i’ icon for its caption info.
Safety first
With the race taking place it was important for safety measures to be put in place to protect all involved – spectators, riders, staff and employees.
Starts and finishes
The end of each stage is a good place for fans to see all the action.
The scenic route
The riders encounter a variety of environments as they traverse France: from the streets of the cities and towns, to countryside roads and mountainous peaks.
The devil is in the detail
Imagery from the Tour is not just about wide shots showing the sweeping vistas across the country providing drama and interest, close-up and detail shots of the action can convey just as much to the viewer.
Watching and waiting
Back in March, France’s sports minister Roxana Maracineanu said that Tour organisers were considering the option of going ahead without fans, but with the event being postponed until August that option wasn’t explored further and despite the ongoing pandemic French authorities have allowed fans to continue the tradition of cheering on the sidelines. The Tour would be a duller and quieter spectacle if it did not attract the thousands of fans who gather along the route of each stage.
We have a winner
Having gained the yellow jersey in stage nine and holding a 57-second lead going into the penultimate stage, Primoz Roglic would have been dreaming of glory but a stupendous performance from white jersey holder Tadej Pogacar in the individual time trial gave the youngster the yellow jersey and meant he became the youngest champion since 1904.
For the Love of Dogs viewers were left infuriated as they pointed out a 'bad habit' of presenter Alison Hammond's during the latest episode of the ITV show, which has seen ratings plummet.
The moment was filmed by a Pollok resident who was left disgusted after spotting the vermin from her kitchen window in the Templeland Road area of Glasgow.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry made their first public appearance alongside Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2018, but a Royal author has claimed it was marred by an awkward moment
Prince William made a surprise visit to a school in the West Midlands today, where he issued a 14-word update on his wife, Kate Middleton, amid her cancer treatment
Callum Laing, 40, was diagnosed with a stage 4 Glioblastoma brain tumour, after he had been suffering from intense headaches - but surgeons in Edinburgh have made a surprising discovery.
The ITV The Martin Lewis Money Show star, who is a BBC Sounds podcast host too, spoke out on Twitter/X over how to get in touch with your bank urgently
Footage taken by a Brazilian tourist shows several pedestrians stepping to soothe the black horse which caused damage after running through the London streets on Wednesday.
Whatever the long-term electoral consequences of the ending of the SNP-Greens agreement, Humza Yousaf has at last seized one of the most important elements in politics: the initiative.
A horse trainer who was accused of the murder and rape of a showjumper he was in an “illicit relationship” with has been found dead before the second day of his trial was set to begin.
Martian Creepy Crawlers The European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter has spotted mysterious "spiders" roaming the Red Planet's southern polar region. But they're not the arachnids we've come to fear back on Earth — they're the result of a complex geological process that causes carbon dioxide to sublimate, bringing darker material from below the surface […]
They contain a triple whammy of alpha linolenic acid, fibre and lignans which help protect against heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol