Annemieke Van Vleuten became ill during the first stage of the Tour de France Femme and her performance was compromised during the Provins and Epernay stages, but she has now recovered and is confirmed to be free of the COVID-19 infection.

Movistar director Sebastien Unzue confirmed to Cycling News at the start of stage 4 in Troyes that Van Vleuten had been tested for the COVID-19 virus and tested negative and was following all relevant protocols.

"If she is symptomatic, she is tested; if she is not symptomatic, she is not tested. She was tested and came back negative, with no problems.

"The doctor evaluated everything from the very beginning when she started feeling unwell. She was able to hide it [from the peloton] and play a little poker the last two stages, but yesterday she couldn't hold it together."

Van Vleuten appeared to struggle on the climbs of stage 2 Provins and stage 3 Epernay, but later revealed that she was recovering from a stomach upset.

"It all started after the first stage, but I'm over it now," Van Vleuten told NOS on Tuesday, revealing that he had similar problems to compatriot Tom Dumoulin, who won stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia. 'I never panicked,' he said. It was the Tom Dumoulin version, so to speak. I feel better now. Everything will be fine again."

Unzue told Cycling News on Wednesday that Van Vleuten is receiving special care from the team.

"Her stomach pain was pretty limited, food poisoning or something like that. The doctors are taking care of her all the time."

Prior to the Tour de France femme, the UCI announced the conditions of the COVID-19 protocol created by the steering group under medical director Xavier Bigard. applicable to stage races of seven days or more. The protocol requires a negative PCR test two days prior to the opening stage, and athletes must undergo follow-up during the competition, including daily questionnaires and clinical evaluation by a team physician.

"Suspicious cases will be reported by the latter to the physician in charge of the COVID-19 competition. Isolation measures will be implemented and a decision will be made to withdraw the athlete from the event based on available clinical and biological evidence, in accordance with currently recommended medical "best practices" in the context of this pandemic.

Movistar did not confirm Van Vleuten's final test date, but Unzier and Movistar stated that the team was following protocol.

"Mid-race inspections have become common practice for many teams, including ours, and this has been the case with Annemiek. Even though we are not able to track 100% at this time, all of the causes and circumstances of Annemiek's illness indicate a different reason for his condition than COVID. Otherwise, the team is working according to the so-called best practices of the UCI and following the applicable rules," Movistar said.

Van Vleuten started the race as the overall favorite, but due to stomach problems, the team will try to limit its losses until it reaches Vosges for stages 7 and 8 of the weekend, Unzue said.

"Today I want to see her take another step forward. Yesterday she was in better shape than the day before. Today she was more or less OK. Every morning we go through our day hoping she will wake up better than the day before," Unzwe said. [Perhaps our competitors will try to hurt us, knowing that she is not in perfect condition. We have a team to defend. Anne-Mike usually carries the weight of the team.

"We want to get her to the finish safely and hopefully not lose time or minimize the loss, there are two stages that the GC riders won't be running, so hopefully we can recover in those two stages. Once we get into the weekend, she should be ready to ride in the mountains."