The Bora-Hansgrohe team boss has voiced his concerns about coronavirus testing at the Tour de France following a ‘false positive’ at the Bretagne Classic on Tuesday.

Ralph Denk pulled his team out of the race after one of the team’s riders tested positive for Covid-19.

But just hours later the same rider was then found to be negative for the virus, leaving Bora boss Denk frustrated by the testing procedure.

He said: "It looks like my concerns are being confirmed.

"It is known that PCR tests have a certain rate of error and thus produce false positive results. This in itself would not be a problem if there were the possibility to check the results immediately in the case of a positive finding.

"In the UCI's current testing strategy, this verification is not present.

"We are talking about athletes who have prepared for a race for weeks or months and then might not be allowed to start the event due to a false finding."

What Denk is essentially suggesting is an A and B sample form of testing where if a positive is found in the first sample, the second is used to verify.

The UCI have confirmed they are carrying out a two-strike method at the Tour whereby if two riders from the same team test positive for coronavirus, all of the team will be removed from the race.

The Tour de France was originally due to begin at the end of June but will now begin this Saturday, August 29.