Tough times for Visma | Lease a Bike in Basque Country - after setbacks with Campenaerts and Tulett, now also uncertainty about Zingle

Visma | Lease a Bike was in the fifth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country in the thick of the action. Although leader Wilco Kelderman finished among the favorites, Ben Tulett (DNS) and Axel Zingle (DNF) failed to reach the finish line. The Dutch team will, therefore, continue with four men in Spain, where things have not been going well anyway.

The Killer Bees started the tour well, with Victor Campenaerts finishing seventh in the opening time trial. But he had to abandon the race after a crash in the second stage. It was later revealed that he had suffered a fracture to his shoulder in the crash. He will, therefore, have to skip the Ardennes classics. Two days after his withdrawal, it happened again: Tulett did not start, and Zingle also crashed. The Tour of the Basque Country continues to play tricks on Visma | Lease a Bike.

Sports director Jesper Mørkøv noticed that his British protégé was not completely fit. 'Together with Ben, we decided it was better to withdraw from the race, ' he said on the team's website. "Together with Ben, we decided it was best for him to step out of the race. He's had a powerful spring so far, and we now want to give him some rest to ensure he's in top shape for the Ardennes. That's an important period for him." Usually, Tulett will be at the start of the Amstel Gold Race next weekend, a race in which he finished 17th in 2021 at 19.

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Tulett won the Settimana Coppi e Bartali earlier this year.

Uncertainty about Zingle: "We'll have to wait and see how he's doing"

His teammate Zingle may be a bit more unfortunate. His crash was so severe that he could not continue. "As for Axel, we don't have any updates at the moment," his Danish sports director explains. "He crashed early on the stage and couldn't continue. We'll have to wait and see how he's doing. It's too soon to say anything more definitive." The French rider was also supposed to start in Limburg next week, but it remains to be seen whether that will be possible.

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