According to press reports, the ASO, organizer of the Tour de France, will ban fans from approaching teams and riders for more than 100 meters at stage starts and 300 meters at stage finishes due to the risk of coronavirus in the so-called "red zone"

in France. The teams and riders will be banned from approaching the teams and riders.

ASO secretary general Yann Lemonaire told Reuters on Friday. 'The system will sensibly be the same as Paris-Nice.'

According to Reuters, concerns over the second wave of COVID-19 are growing in France, with 9,406 new cases reported by the health ministry between Thursday and Friday. The total number of infected people in France now stands at 363,350, with 30,893 deaths in France.

A red zone is declared when there are more than 50 new cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days. Forty-two of France's 96 departments are currently in the red zone.

The next three stages will start and finish in the red zone, with stage 14 taking place in Lyon in the Rhone department, followed by stage 15 in Ain on Sunday. Stage 14 will head to Lyon in the Rhône department, followed by stage 15 on Sunday in Ain. Monday's rest day will take the riders from La Tour du Pain to Villars de Reims in the Isère department, but the race will leave the red zone on stage 17 and head high into the Alps. Stage 19 will return to Ain and start in Bourg-en-Bresse, but will leave the red zone and finish in Champagnol before the time trial in Haute-Saône on the final day. Paris, where the final stage will take place, is now a red zone.

Meanwhile, French sports newspaper L'Equipe reported on Friday evening that the Ain prefecture had issued a statement banning spectators from watching the final two climbs of Sunday's 15th stage, the Col de la Biche and Col du Grand Colombier, at the summit finish.

"Entry to the Col du Grand Colombier and Col de la Biche is prohibited from noon on Saturday, September 12, 2020, until 8 p.m. on Sunday, September 13, 2020. Spectators, rallies, and demonstrations will therefore be prohibited."

"The rapid deterioration of health conditions means that (Ain) is now one of 42 provinces with more active viral circulation," Ain's statement concluded.

The first of the three categorized climbs of this stage, the first category, Monte de la Serre de Fromentelle, does not appear to be included in the ban.

Stage 15 started on Sunday in the city of Lyon in the Rhône department and immediately entered the department of Isère after about 15 km. Of the stage's total distance of 175 km, just over 60 km will take the riders into the department of Anne, with a summit finish at the Monte de la Serre de Fromentelle and Col de la Biche, a first-class mountain, and the category Grand Colombier.