Deceuninck-QuickStep remain under pressure in Argentina. After a day of drama they are down one rider and the controversy around Iljo Keisse has persisted. Team boss Patrick Lefevere, above, has also made his views known.
Having believed the high profile incident involving Iljo Keisse was over, things have worsened for Deceuninck-QuickStep in Argentina.
The Vuelta a San Juan organisers left it to the team to punish Keisse for striking a sexualised pose behind the back of a young woman posing for a photo with him and team mates.
However, when the team took no apparent action, Keisse was disqualified from the race after Tuesday night’s TT.
Team manager Patrick Lefevere then said if it was up to him he would remove the team from the race.
He also suggested the 18-year-old waitress at the centre of the case was looking for money; something she has strongly denied.
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And after today’s fourth stage, the team’s riders declined to attend the podium ceremony.
It meant race leader Julian Alaphilippe, U23 classification leader Remco Evenepoel and Alvaro Hodeg, who was 3rd on the stage, all missed the podium presentation.
Deceuninck-QuickStep claimed it wasn’t a protest, explaining the riders did not feel good after the stage and so decided to opt out of the ceremony.
It also suggested the stress of the last few days, especially the late night disqualification of Keisse, had taken its toll on the riders.
When Lefevere spoke out, to the Belgian media as he is not in Argentina, his comments did little to calm the situation.
"If it depended on me, the whole team would leave,” he told Het Laatste Nieuws. "We are reviewing what the UCI regulation says. Then we will quickly decide whether we will start or not.”
However, since he made those comments the riders have ridden a stage and it appears they plan to stay for the remaining stages.
"Of course, I am not happy with the pose of Iljo,” Lefevere continued of the controversy. “That is wrong, and he knows that himself.
“But he paid a €70 fine and the police closed the case. And yet that woman continues to make something of it. She will want money, right?"
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Keisse (36) stopped at a café in San Juan last Friday with some team mates at the end of a training ride.
When an 18-year-waitress asked to have her photo taken, Keisse struck a sexual pose behind her as the photos were being taken.
Gaviria wins today from Sagan and Hodeg.
When the young woman saw the photos she went to the police and complained. She also said Keisse had brushed against her, which he completely denied.
She gave an interview to a local newspaper which published her comments, and the photos, on Monday.
It then transpired Keisse had been called before the police to give his account. They fined him and the matter was closed.
However, when the interview with the woman appeared in the newspaper, Keisse and the team came under extreme pressure.
He made a public apology but his actions were criticised by the UCI and the race organisers.
And when Deceuninck-QuickStep was given an opportunity to take action against Keisse and apparently did not, the race organisation removed him from the field after the TT stage.
Stage 4 on Wednesday
At the end of Wednesday's stage the honours were decided in a bunch sprint. Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) won from Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe).
Alaphilippe finished in 52nd in the 131-rider bunch and so kept his race lead. He has already won stages 2 and 3 for Deceuninck-QuickStep.
Conor Dunne, who was 11th in the TT, was also in the bunch at the end of today's 186km stage into Villa San Agustín.
The Israel Cycling Academy rider placed 91st and remains 16th overall at 1:01. Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) came in just off the back of the main field; in 133rd at 36 seconds.
There are three stages remaining and Bennett should get another chance to sprint for victory after his 3rd place on the opening stage won by Gaviria.
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