The Tour de Suisse left Ambry on Thursday for the fifth of eight stages.

A combination of heat, crashes, and a COVID-19 outbreak left many riders missing from the pack less than two weeks before the Tour de France. (Open in new tab)

Seven of the 17 riders who failed to start the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse (open in new tab) were from Jumbo-Visma (open in new tab). Others soon followed for similar reasons.

The Dutch team would not specify how many athletes tested positive or who was involved, but simply stated that "Corona had snuck into the team" and explained that they had left the group "for the health of the athletes and staff, and to protect the peloton and the race."

Race director Olivier Sen later told Velo Pro Net that all riders and staff had left the race due to concerns about the spread of the infection in the Tour de Suisse, as there were four positive cases on the team.

Shortly after Jumbo Visma was on his way home, Ineos Grenadier (open in new tab) announced that Tour de Suisse and Tour de France leader Adam Yates had also tested positive and had withdrawn from the race.

Human Powered Health also announced that U.S. national champion Joey Rothkopf tested positive and withdrew from the race.

Later, three more COVID-19 cases were found on Team DSM: Soren Kragh Andersen, Casper Pedersen, and Cees Bol did not participate in the stage and were later confirmed by the team to have tested positive in the lateral flow test.

The team said that after "discussions with the race organizers and the UCI," they decided to allow the remaining riders to participate in the race, but would "continue to monitor the situation and continue their protection efforts."

Team DSM also withdrew John Degenkolb and Nils Ehoff from the Belgian tour on Wednesday due to a COVID-19 positive.

Five more riders did not race in stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse.

Gino Made and Hermann Pernsteiner of Bahrain-Victorias went down with stomach problems.

Evgeny Fedorov was absent due to an unnamed "illness," according to his Astana Kazakstan team, and Trek Segafredo withdrew Otto Bergelde from the race due to fatigue. Michal Gogl also withdrew from the race, but Alpecin Phoenix has not yet revealed the reason.

The abandonments that flooded in Thursday morning have continued since the race began. A heat wave has hit Western Europe over the past few days, and Timen Arensmann (Team DSM) and Jay Vine (Alpecin Phoenix) suffered so much that they had to leave the race on stage 4.

"Despite maximum hydration and cooling on the bike, he was unable to continue the race: "Alpecin-Phoenix presented a similar situation for Wein, stating.

Jan Maas (BikeExchange-Jayco) did not start stage 4 due to an unidentified illness, and Kasper Asgreen (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) and Frederik Wandahl had to leave the previous afternoon's severe crash the previous afternoon forced them to pull out.

Davide Villella (Cofidis) and Camille Malecki (Lotto Soudal) crashed on stage 3, while Dario Cataldo (Trek-Segafredo) and Leonardo Basso (Astana Kazakstan) retired on stage 2. Ben King (Human Powered Health) did not start the race due to stomach problems.