Should We Or Shouldn't We?

As the year of 2020 slowly trudges toward its inevitable conclusion, we are now running into the Fall where many events that should have already happened have been postponed to. The plumb of all of these must surely be the Tour de France, set to take place mostly in the beginning weeks of September this year. Starting August 28th, this pinnacle of cycling racing is an event- like it or not- which sets the tone for much of what follows behind it in the cycling world. 

Obviously things will necessarily need to be quite a bit different this year. A hint of what it takes to put on such an event was given when the Colorado Classic released details on its protocols that it was to have enacted for its now cancelled event, as I reported on in this FN&V post. A really blunt take on where the TdF sits within current events was recently published here on "Cyclingtips" website which echos much of what was to be at the Colorado Classic. 

The question, "should the event start?", is not just a question for the Tour de France, or the now cancelled Colorado Classic, but this is the question on every event promoter's mind coming into Fall, Winter, and even into next year. Where will we be sitting in regard to COVID-19? Will there be a 'second wave', as it appears there will be in France? Does any event with larger numbers of people planned for participation need to have the same, or similar protocols to what the TdF has? How do you balance all of this against health concerns, economic concerns, and public perceptions? 

Whew! Those are balls that no one wants to juggle with. Will the outcome be a positive or a negative? In my opinion, the Tour this year will be a sort of 'proving grounds'. If this spectacle, which stands to make a LOT of money for a lot of people, can go off with little to no COVID impacts, then I think you see bigger events take note and encouragement from that. However; if the microscope of attention focused upon the Tour sees one crack to exploit concerning this pandemic, you can be sure that the condemnation for any failures will be swift and far reaching. This, in my opinion again, will affect following events to a great extent. 

Should the event even start? Pfffft! It'll be easy to say after the fact. Place your bets now though, and this becomes a sort of gamble. A gamble that may have some dark consequences. In light of that, the prudent person might answer, "No. The TdF should not start." Those with the view that traditions should be upheld, those with a view that  human beings being social creatures, need this sort of thing,  and those who find economic ruin too great an expense for something that needs to not be feared? Well, they may look at this quite differently. And this is really a microcosm of the World's predicament concerning COVID-19, isn't it? The results of running the TdF then might actually have far reaching consequences. 

This isn't an experiment I'd want to conduct, but he we go..........