On Tuesday, Jérôme Pinault, team manager for B&B Hotels-Vital Concepts, held a virtual press conference to announce the 10 riders scheduled to compete in this year's Tour de France. But the French manager also spoke about the concerns he had for the team at the professional team level and for cycling as a whole during the suspension of cycling due to the coronavirus outbreak.

"I feared for the survival of my sport because we were not the only ones who had to go through such a difficult time," Pinault said, according to L'Equipe. 'I don't know many teams that can demand millions of euros from their partners, apart from those that live off petrodollars. When the Tour de France was threatened, we were all frightened. Would we have to close up store?

"In the end we didn't, but we had to make some changes.

"The economic crisis hurts the rich and kills the poor. Your partner is a hotel chain whose occupancy rate was close to zero when the lockdown began. [The Tour has been moved from August 29 to September 20, and the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are scheduled for late October.

"Fortunately, the UCI ensured that the order in which the races were held made sense from a travel standpoint," says Pinault. 'Some of our staff have had to become security guards or health officials ....... Some have to become security guards or health center workers ....... We had to put them on partial unemployment for two and a half months. [It was a scouting trip with only five people, massages with gloves and masks, etc.

"All riders and staff must pass serological [blood] tests, and there will be no normal gatherings of the entire team," Pinault explained.

"Yesterday [Monday] we drew up a list of 10 riders who will compete in the Tour de France.

"We also encourage them to avoid public transport and to travel in team vehicles.

Pinault also said he believes the lack of competition since March means the athletes will be ready when World Tour-level racing resumes at Strade Bianche on August 1.

"They will be more motivated than ever because they haven't been able to race for two and a half months," he said. 'The competition will be at a very high level,' he said. The races will be faster

"What has changed is the approach, there will be no more exotic trips to high altitude training camps or training on volcanoes," said Pinault. This may not be the case this year, especially for the Tour de France winners, Team Ineos riders, who regularly choose to train at high altitudes such as Mount Teide in Tenerife, Spain, to prepare for races such as the Tour.

"Some of the team leaders will be less fit by the third week and the team will be less homogenous.

"Also, the race may be a little more open because the big teams don't have the power to control everything.