On Friday, the Tour de Suisse continued its race despite the retirement of four leading teams due to a number of COVID-19 cases in the peloton. However, race director Olivier Sen admitted that due to the explosion of infected people in the race, it will be decided on a daily basis whether the race can continue until Sunday.

Race leader Alexandre Vlasov (Bora Hansgerøe), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates), EF Education Easy Post's Stephan Bissegger, Rigobert Ulan, Hugh Carthy, along with Alberto Betiol, were among the many players who tested positive on Friday morning.

Following Thursday's 16 retirements, a total of 29 did not start the race. Ninety-three riders remain in the peloton.

Four COVID-19 infections on Thursday caused the entire Jumbo Visma team to retire, joined on Friday morning by UAE Team Emirates, Bahrain Victorious, and Alpecin Phoenix. With Vlasov out of the race, Jacob Fuglsang (Israel Premier Tech) donned the quickly prepared race leader's yellow jersey.

With the start of the Tour de France just two weeks away, riders lined up at the start in Locarno, anxious to get their COVID-19 cases.

The race director of the Tour de Suisse said the remaining 18 teams were willing to continue the race despite the risk of further cases. However, a decision on whether to continue the race will be made each morning after further COVID-19 testing.

"We evaluated and discussed the situation. After a meeting with the team, the CPA riders' association and UCI medical officer Professor Xavier Bigard, Zen told Velo Pro Net at the start of the stage.

"Four teams have decided to withdraw, including the team that left yesterday, so there are 18 teams left in the race. All remaining teams have agreed to start and no further decisions have been made regarding today's stage. Tomorrow morning we will re-evaluate and hopefully there will not be more cases. For the time being, the race will continue as planned."

Senn admitted that the Tour de Suisse may not make it to Sunday's final stage, a time trial stage around Faduz.

"That's what we're thinking and obviously we're trying to prevent that.

"Obviously we're going to have to discuss things when it's no longer sportingly relevant. I think it's a very difficult balance to strike. That's why we talked to all the stakeholders."

"We believe we can continue, but we will re-evaluate tomorrow and decide day by day; we believe that even though we have 18 teams, it is still an open and realistic race. And we keep going