"I don't think it's good to continue to ride races for the team in these conditions" - Bram Welten fully understands Arnaud Démare's choice to change teams

The waltz of departures continues at Groupama-FDJ. In the wake of Arnaud Démare, who joins with Miles Scotson - and perhaps soon Ignatas Konovalovas - it is the turn of Bram Welten to announce that he will leave his current team at the end of the 2023 season. The Dutchman was a bit of a victim of the complicated situation within the sprint team around Arnaud Démare this year.

"I fully understand his choice to change teams during the season, given the problem that arose. I don't think it's good to continue to ride races for the team in these conditions. There's just a lot of things that happened that just aren't cool at all," Welten revealed to WielerFlits that doesn't wish to renew with his current team.

"Basically, I was a bit of a victim of the story about Arnaud. Initially, of course, he was going to the Tour de France with a train. In the end it turned out that only one person was allowed to come and in the end no one went. So all competitions were removed from my program which I was really looking forward to."

"At first I was a little disillusioned. Then I got sick and this hay allergy added to it. The Tour selection was a real problem. I'm now happy to to be able to start this Tour of Poland in good condition," concluded Welten who did not wish to reveal his next team for 2024.