The men's Astana team was forced to cancel the entire Virtual Tour de France (a six-stage Tour run on the Zwift virtual training app over three weekends) due to internet connection problems at their high-altitude training camp in the Sierra Nevada, Spain.

The team is now in the process of preparing for the Tour de France.

The team first ran into trouble on Saturday's third stage, won by Rally Cycling's Matteo Dalsin, but hoped that the connection problems would be resolved by Sunday's fourth stage.

"All the riders were motivated to have a good race, but unfortunately the internet connection problems forced the riders to give up halfway through the stage," sport manager Dmitry Fofonov said on the team website after the third stage.

"Sometimes connections don't work at high altitudes, so these things happen," he added.

However, the team's riders did not compete in Sunday's stage 4, which was won by Freddy Ovett (Israel Startup Nation), forcing Astana to reluctantly withdraw from the virtual stage race, which ends next weekend (July 18 and 19) with stages 5 and 6. Astana was forced to withdraw from the virtual stage race, which will end with stages 5 and 6 next weekend (July 18 and 19).

"We tried to solve the problem with the support of the race organization, but unfortunately the technical possibilities of the connections here in the mountains are not able to support all the specifications required by the virtual race," Fofonov explained on Sunday.

"I would like to thank the race organizers for their excellent support, giving us the opportunity to participate in this great sporting event. It's a great initiative that allows all teams to feel competitive again and show their team colors," he continued.

"Now it's time to train hard on the road for the rest of the season. I wish all the teams good luck in the virtual race and I will see you in Nice for the Tour de France main event."