Two-thirds of French cycling fans would rather defending champion Alberto Contador does not race in this year's Tour de France as he battles to shake off doping allegations.
The controversial three-time Tour champion will take part in cycling's showpiece event in July, before his doping case is heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on August the 1st.
The original hearing had been scheduled for June the 6th and Tour organisers had wanted the issue over and done with before the race starts on July the 2nd.
Instead, CAS announced last week that it had accepted to postpone the hearing "in order to give all parties concerned reasonable time to prepare".
Contador tested positive for a trace amount of the banned substance clenbuterol at last year's Tour.
The Spanish Cycling Federation initially banned him but then cleared him to compete, accepting his claim that he had unknowingly consumed drug-contaminated meat and was therefore not negligent.
But French fans would rather Contador, newly crowned Tour of Italy champion, stays away until the issue is definitively cleared up.
An IFOP poll published on Friday showed 63 per cent of respondents were opposed to his competing.
Only 19 per cent said he should definitely take part, while 18 per cent were undecided.
Pollsters questioned a representative sample of 1013 people between June the 7th and 9th.