What virus? At GOP's convention, pandemic is largely ignored

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15 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Luzerne County; 843 statewide

NICE, France &mdash; Delayed but alive again and out on French roads, the strangest Tour de France ever set off Saturday in a bubble of anti-COVID protocols to try to keep the 176 riders virus-free for three weeks of racing through the country&rsquo;s worsening epidemic.
				Only after riders peeled off their face masks and raced off from the start in the Mediterranean city of Nice, serenaded by a uniformed band playing &ldquo;La Marseillaise,&rdquo; did the Tour begin to look like its old, pre-COVID self, immediately delivering thrills and spills as storms made the roads as slippy as ice.
				But with fans kept firmly at arm&rsquo;s length, told by the government that it was best to stay home and watch the racing on television, the Tour lost much of its festive atmosphere. There was very little of the usual up-close communing between athletes and their adoring public that made the venerable 117-year-old rolling roadshow so unique among sports events in more carefree times.
				Powering past thin crowds on the finishing straight in Nice that would usually have been many rows deep, Norwegian rider Alexander Kristoff won the first stage with a fearsome final sprint. He celebrated by giving a COVID-sensible fist-bump to a teammate.
				Since its inception in 1903, the race has only been canceled during the two world wars.
				But the number of daily COVID-19 cases has been rising steadily across France, prompting concerns the Tour will have to be stopped if the situation deteriorates further.
				&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a first miracle that we are able to start this race, but we want a second miracle to happen, which is the Tour de France to arrive in Paris,&rdquo; UCI president David Lappartient said. &ldquo;The goal is really to reach Paris.&rdquo;
				Jean-Michel Blanquer, the French minister in charge of sports, said the chances of the Tour being cancelled before reaching Paris were &ldquo;very slim&rdquo;, but also added &ldquo;everything is possible. That type of thing could happen but of course I hope that it won&rsquo;t and I think that it won&rsquo;t because the Tour organizers have done an extraordinary job&rdquo;.
				To ensure the 22 teams competing at the constantly traveling event remain virus-free, organizers have put in place stringent rules keeping them away from fans.
				Tour spectators and riders usually mingle at the start of stages, posing for pictures together and exchanging a few words. All this was impossible Saturday at the start of the 156-kilometer Stage 1, with fans not allowed to take selfies with their heroes or to get autographs. They could not approach the team buses of last year&rsquo;s winner Egan Bernal and former world champion Peter Sagan, which were parked side by side.
				Instead of the usual throngs, the park where the buses are gathered was largely empty, with, at best, just a few small clumps of people to cheer the riders as they rode past.
				In addition to the social distancing imposed, French health authorities have also decided that an entire team will be expelled from the race if two or more of their members, including staff, test positive for COVID-19 within a week, increasing the probability that only a fraction of the peloton will reach the Champs-Elysees in three weeks&rsquo; time.

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Late but alive, Tour races into COVID era