Cofidis and several other teams on the UAE tour are spending a fifth day in isolation at the race hotel as they await the results of the second round of medical tests.

The French team was tested last Friday at 4 am. By Saturday evening, the results came back negative, but a small number of them complained of fever-like symptoms on Sunday, forcing them to undergo a second round of testing.

Cofidis, Groupama-FDJ, and Gazprom-RusVelo remain quarantined on the fourth floor, while the UAE Team Emirates players who voluntarily stayed behind are still in the same hotel, but on the first floor of another wing. The other teams left the race 48 hours ago with permission from the local health authorities.

Cycling News spoke directly with Cofidis' Nathan Haas on Monday, and 24 hours later the team's official photographer, Mathilde Lazou, provided an update on the situation.

On Tuesday morning, Cofidis team president Thierry Vitou also issued a statement, asking that the team be allowed to leave the UAE and again questioning why they were being quarantined.

"Finally the floor has been cleaned so it looks like a real hotel and not a recycling center. But the atmosphere is very strange," Rasoo told Cycling News.

"We are all in our rooms, but no one has locked the doors. Every time we hear someone talking in the hallway, people come to check on us."

"The situation is still complicated. They bring lunch packets to the front of the room, which is very odd. Personally, I've lost three pounds since Thursday because of the food and stress. Morale is not good right now. The team is very united and that is the only thing that is saving me from real depression. But I don't know how long it will last."

The team is trying to pass the time by making YouTube videos and using social media as a way to keep in touch with loved ones and friends back home. The athletes are under added pressure to miss a week of training and racing, but their priority now is to leave as soon as possible anyway.

Lack of information will only make the situation worse. The riders were to be informed of the test results on Monday morning.

"We tried to play down the situation, laugh about it, and make the conditions here easier. That's why we made the video of Nathan and Attilio. But we still don't know why we're stuck here and when we're going to get out."

"Not knowing when we're going to get home is not good for our mental health. Really, we are going crazy here." Rasoo continued.

"It was unfortunate that we slept on the wrong floor in the hotel. And now we are being punished for it. It's a shame. At this critical time, the athletes are unable to train. We don't have enough clothes, we don't have enough contact lenses. We have no information. Do not forget our incredible situation."

Vittu expressed similar sentiments and called for pressure to be applied for their relief.

"Actually, I think this situation is really unusual. We are being held against our will for an unknown period of time in a place we did not choose," Vitou said in a statement released by the Cofidis team in French and English.

"This last point is the most complicated point to live with. We always hope that things will turn around soon, but nothing happens.

"It is true that the means of communication (Internet, social networks, phones, PCs) can help us live this situation better.

"I wish the media would take over our situation to apply pressure where needed. But oh well, morale remains high and this story will end well one day.

"The doorbell just rang. It must be the breakfast I left under the door. When we see the hotel staff in the hallway, they run away. Our room has not been made since we arrived five days ago and we have to go to the elevator.

"Some people live well in those situations, others more complicated."