Team BikeExchange-Jayco announced on Tuesday morning that Luke Durbridge has become the fourth rider to leave the Tour de France after testing positive for COVID-19.
The Australian was among the 165 riders in the peloton who tested negative for the virus during the UCI-mandated rest day testing undertaken by all riders following the end of stage 9 in Châtel.
"Unfortunately, Luke Durbridge has tested positive for COVID-19 this morning," read a statement issued by the team on social media.
"Durbridge has very mild symptoms & will not start today’s stage 10."
Durbridge joins Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroën), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), and Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE Team Emirates) on the list of riders to fall victim to the virus so far during the Tour.
The all-negative outcome to the round of rest day testing came as a surprise, given the string of positive tests in the build-up to the Tour, along with the cases that had emerged during the race itself, particularly among team staff.
The UCI requires all riders to undergo tests on the two main rest days during a Grand Tour, although, under new regulations this is now antigen rapid testing, with a follow-up PCR test to be carried out in the event of a positive result.
The UCI dos not demand additional testing but "strongly recommends" that teams themselves carry out antigen tests "if possible daily but at least every two to three days".
After exiting the race, Guillaume Martin expressed doubts that this internal testing is taking place among some teams, suggesting the mild symptoms he reported to his team doctor would have gone unreported elsewhere.
Riders can technically continue in the Tour de France if they return a positive result, depending on the CT score of their test, which indicates viral load and therefore contagiousness. Bob Jungels tested positive on the two days before the Tour but with only faint traces of the virus, which led the UCI to let him start, after consultation with doctors from his team and the race.
