During the past few days, Thomas De Gendt (hit by a car in Spain), Gert Dockx (hit by a car in Spain), Jelle Wallays (crash during first stage Volta ao Algarve, he abandoned the race after stage three), André Greipel (crash in the fourth stage of Algarve, he quit the race as well) and Sean De Bie (crash in stage four Volta ao Algarve) were all involved in a crash. Lotto Soudal doctor Servaas Bingé gives an update.

“Gert Dockx and Thomas De Gendt went to the hospital in Belgium for further examinations after their crash in Spain last Friday. Gert Dockx has a severe bruise on his right leg. The following days will determine if Gert will be able to restart his training and if he’ll be ready for the opening weekend in Belgium," he said.

“Thomas De Gendt has a fracture in his ring finger, a minor concussion and several bruises. We have to be careful with the concussion in particular. We evaluate the status day by day, but the symptoms need to be gone completely before he can restart his training. Based on these evaluations we will decide if Thomas can participate in Paris-Nice.

“Jelle Wallays crashed during the first stage in Algarve. He could ride on his bike the following days, but by mutual agreement we decided not to start in stage four. Jelle has a little muscle rupture around the hip. He’s in a good shape but he’ll have to rest during the coming days. He will skip the recon of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Wednesday and in the evening we’ll decide if Jelle can participate in this race.

“André Greipel crashed rather badly yesterday, he has some serious abrasions on his right side and has a bruised rib on his left. He won’t start in today’s stage as a precaution but he’ll do some kilometres at an easy pace.". His further programme will probably not be disturbed.

“Sean De Bie was involved in the same crash as Greipel, he has some abrasions but will start in the final stage in Algarve.”

“Marcel Sieberg had to skip the Volta ao Algarve and he won’t start in the opening weekend in Belgium. He had a chronic respiratory infection and couldn’t train for a whole week. He will increase his training step by step, just to make sure that his spring and the rest of his season isn’t in danger.”