Simon Clarke was looking for more opportunities to add to his Tour de France win tally after winning across the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix, but he tested positive for COVID in a routine team test.
“After an internal routine test carried out by the team, unfortunately Simon Clarke has returned a positive Covid test. Therefore, Simon won’t take the start of stage 15. All other riders returned negative tests and are ready to race today,” Israel-Premier Tech announced.
"Goodbye Tour de France," said Clarke in a post on social media. "Unfortunately, I have tested positive for COVID and am on my way home to Andorra. Although it's disappointing to have to leave the race. It has been an amazing 2 weeks and I wouldn't change it for the world!"
This brings the number of riders who have tested positive for the viral disease to eight during this year's Tour de France. Another stage winner in this year’s race, Magnus Cort, also pulled out from the race following a positive test, with the EF Education-EasyPost team announcing the news pre-Stage 15.
“Magnus Cort woke up this morning with a headache and fever and has since tested positive for COVID-19. He will not start stage 15 of the Tour de France. His medical evaluation is ongoing,” EF Education-EasyPost said in a statement.
Cort wore the polka-dot jersey in the early stage of the 2022 Tour de France after consistently going on the attack, before going on to win Stage 10 to Megève just ahead of Australian Nick Schultz (BikeExchange-Jayco) after going in the early break.
As per the UCI COVID-19 protocol, all the riders, staff and race officials will undergo a rapid antigen test on Sunday evening or during the rest day in Carcassonne.
