Tour de France: teams will be expelled if two members test positive for Covid

Teams will be withdrawn from the Tour de France if two riders or staff show symptoms or test positive for Covid-19 under strict protocols from race organisers.

However the race, which starts in Nice on 29 August, will continue even if there is a confirmed case of coronavirus in the peloton according to an 18-page document shared with teams this week.

“If two persons or more from the same team present strongly suspect symptoms or have tested positive for Covid-19 the team in question will be expelled from the Tour de France,” states the document, which has been obtained by the VeloNews website.

“Its riders will not be authorised to start the Tour de France (or the next stage) and the team’s personnel will have their accreditation withdrawn.”

All team members will have to enter a “bubble” three days before the race by passing two Covid-19 tests – and everyone in the Tour entourage will be tested again on both rest days, 7 and 14 September.

Under the strict guidelines from the race organisers, ASO, team doctors will be required to gauge the health of every rider and staff member every day by using a health checklist that tracks any symptoms of possible infection, such as fever, coughing, shortness of breath, abnormal aches and fatigue.

Related: Ineos's Tour de France team marks end of road for Britain's cycling empire | Jeremy Whittle

Doctors will also have to rank symptoms as “moderately” or “strongly” suspect, and share the information with the race medical staff and ASO’s Covid-19 tsar.

According to VeloNews, the document states that the ultimate goal is “to safeguard the health of riders, team personnel and other people involved in the Tour de France and to guarantee that the event can go ahead.”

Other new rules include the use of face masks before and after stages, including inside team buses and cars, press conferences held online and no rider and fan interaction.

ASO has been approached by the Guardian for comment.

Meanwhile, Mark Cavendish will not race at the Tour for a second consecutive year after being left out of Bahrain McLaren’s eight-man squad. Cavendish, 35, is second all-time on the list of Tour stage winners with 30 victories, the last of which came in 2016, but his truncated season has left him with few opportunities to race.

Bahrain McLaren team principal Rod Ellingworth said: “The group we have chosen to support [chief yellow jersey hope Mikel Landa] represents [the] riders who are most suited to the parcours and Tour-ready. The past few months have been challenging for all riders to be race fit, and it’s a credit to all of our guys that we had such a strong line-up to choose from.”

Elsewhere, Team Ineos announced the signing of the British rider Adam Yates on Friday, who joins them after seven seasons with Mitchelton-Scott.