Tour de France: Race director Christian Prudhomme tests positive for coronavirus as all teams cleared to continue

All 22 teams have been cleared to start stage 10 of the Tour de France despite four positive coronavirus test results being returned on the first official rest day, with race director Christian Prudhomme also revealed to have coronavirus.

Race organisers the UCI confirmed that although every rider tested negative for Covid-19, four positive results were returned from individuals who are now self-isolating.

It was then revealed by the UCI that 59-year-old Prudhomme has also tested positive, with the race director having led the calls this year for fans to ensure they wear masks and keep their distance from riders as they make their way along the roads.

With Prudhomme set to remain absent from the tour for at least a week, he will be replaced in the race director’s car by Francois Lemarchand.

The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) has announced on the eve of the Tour that should two members of any team test positive for Covid-19, the entire outfit will be sent home - regardless of whether they were riders or not. But with the positive tests coming from separate teams, none of the 22 competing in this year’s event will be banned from the 10th stage, which runs along the Atlantic coast from Ile d'Oleron to Ile de Re.

Reports earlier in the day claimed that a staff member from Deceuninck-Quickstep had tested positive for coronavirus, but the team issued a clarification to confirm that an inconclusive result had been produced and a retest was required, which returned negative.

A team statement read: "As you will have seen, it has been reported that a member of our team staff was collected from our team hotel this morning. An error was made in the laboratory with the sample that the individual gave yesterday, meaning they were taken for retesting this morning. The result of this second test has been returned as negative and we will continue to race as normal."