Excision of codimension at least two and A1-connectedness

Prove or disprove that removing a closed subscheme of codimension at least two from an A1-connected smooth variety preserves A1-connectedness.

Background

The paper observes that negative logarithmic Kodaira dimension and rational connectedness are preserved after removing a closed subset of codimension at least two. It asks whether the analogous excision property holds for A1-connectedness. The question is identified with a conjecture cited as Asok–Doran, Conjecture 2.18.

References

One can ask whether the same is true for A1-connectedness also: that is, if X is A1-connected, then whether X \ Z is also A1-connected [2, Conjecture 2.18].

— Rationality of varieties and $\mathbb{A}^1$-homotopy theory  (2610.03680 - Choudhury et al., 2 Oct 2026) in Remark 3.22, p. 13