Alpecin Deceuninck withdrew from the Tour de Pollogne after five staff members tested positive for COVID-19. The team added that the test results for the riders were "all negative."

"We regret to announce our withdrawal from the Tour de Pollogne due to the five positive COVID results among our team staff.

"For the health of our riders, team staff and all other teams participating, we have decided to withdraw from this year's Tour de Pollogne with the agreement of the UCI and the local organizing committee."

Twenty minutes after the withdrawal was announced, Alpecin Deceuninck confirmed on Twitter that it was staff, not riders, who tested positive.

"EXTRA - it has been confirmed that all the tests done today on the riders were negative. In other words, there are no cases of riders testing positive."

The team entered seven riders in the Tour de Pollogne, with Stefano Aldani finishing 18th overall after three stages.

Also competing were David Van der Poel, Joerd Backes, Tobias Bayer, Senne Reisen, Jakub Maletzko, and Fabio van den Bossche. Van der Poel and Bayer were involved in a crash in the early kilometers of stage 3, but completed the huge 237.9 km stage.

In this year's Tour de France, 41 riders abandoned the race, 17 of them because of COVID-19.

From the Alpecin team, Michael Gogl was injured in a crash, and Mathieu van der Pol abandoned the Grand Tour due to a malfunction.

The Tour de Pollogne covers 1,200 km over seven days and is an important tune-up event for the Vuelta a España.

Among the world teams looking to win are Ineos Grenadiers with Richard Carapaz, Berlain Victorious with Pero Bilbao, and Beulah Hansgrohe with Higuita.

Higuchi, who won stage 3 on Monday, has a 4-second GC lead over Bilbao, with Quinten Hermans (Intermarché Wanty-Gobert Matériault) another 2 seconds back in third place.

Calapaz is 10 seconds ahead of nine other competitors, including teammate Ethan Hayter.