Vive le Tour! With young winner, thrilling race defies virus
(AP Photo/Christophe Ena)PARIS – In a first, the Tour de France winner wore a face mask on the podium Sunday, bright yellow to match the color of the iconic jersey so snug on his young shoulders. “Really, I was scared we wouldn't get to the end,” race director Christian Prudhomme conceded at the finish. And against the virus that doesn't care how old or young its victims are, how hopeful it seemed that the Tour's winner should come from the same generation asking itself: What is life going to be like for us? In an astounding reversal, he dethroned race leader Primoz Roglic, his countryman who had held the yellow jersey for 11 days. “Even in September, the Tour de France is magic!” Macron tweeted Saturday after Pogacar's demolition of Roglic in the time trial.
Pogacar crushes Roglic to seal Tour de France title
Pogacar was sensational, not only ripping the iconic race leader's yellow jersey from Roglic, but winning the time trial, too. Roglic had taken the race lead on Stage 9 and held it all the way to Saturday, the worst day to lose it. “I can't wait to cross the line in Paris,” Pogacar said. Pogacar followed up with another victory on Stage 15 and had been in second place overall for the past week. While Roglic was surrounded at the Tour by powerful support riders who labored tirelessly to protect his race lead, Pogacar had no such luxuries.
For health workers, the pandemic Tour de France is a big ask
Caregiver Maude Leneveu, left, and union representative Corinne Bryand, pose outside the Pasteur hospital where they work in Nice, southern France, and where the Tour de France is racing this week-end, Friday, Aug. 28, 2020. That would ruin her hopes of taking a short holiday after the Tour leaves Nice on Monday and heads deeper into France, after two days of racing around the city. There are very few beds, so we're not equipped to cope with a big influx of sick patients. Leneveu said her take-home pay for four 12-hour hospital shifts per week is 1,450 euros ($1,725) a month. ___More Tour de France coverage: https://apnews.com/TourdeFrance