Chopping block in Catalonia: Alpecin-Deceuninck sees 4 riders quit, Visma | Lease a Bike loses Lemmen

At Alpecin-Deceuninck, the damage was significant. The team announced the abandonment of no fewer than three riders, all for different reasons. Quinten Hermans is dealing with a throat infection and couldn’t continue, Gal Glivar is struggling with a skin infection on his foot that requires antibiotics, and Stan Van Tricht is suffering from knee pain. None of the three even started stage four in Catalonia. Kaden Groves abandoned during the race due to knee pain.

Visma | Lease a Bike also took a hit, though their loss came on Wednesday. Bart Lemmen crashed and had not recovered sufficiently by Thursday. “Unfortunately, Bart has abandoned following his crash yesterday. He’s still feeling the effects of it. We wish him a good and speedy recovery,” the Dutch team said.

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The Tour of Catalonia had already seen 12 abandonments in the first three days, including a sick Tao Geoghegan Hart from Lidl-Trek. Bahrain Victorious is also no longer riding at full strength, the team reported before the start of stage four. “Rainer Kepplinger crashed yesterday, and Finlay Pickering sustained an elbow injury in a separate incident. That leaves us with five riders,” the team stated. Dries De Pooter did not start Thursday’s stage for Intermarché-Wanty, and Stanisław Aniołkowski also withdrew for Cofidis.