
Former Tour de France winner Andy Schleck pulled out of the race ahead of Tuesday's fourth stage because of an injured knee.
Schleck, 29, the 2010 champion, crashed during Monday's third stage from Cambridge to London after a spectator standing in the road disrupted the peloton."Very disappointed to let you know that I will not be able to start," he said on his Twitter feed.
"My knee is too damaged from the crash. This is a huge blow for me."
His Trek team said on Twitter that he would need an operation.
"The ligaments and meniscus in the right knee are too severely damaged from his crash in yesterday's final," said Trek.
"He will travel to Basel now for examination and a possible operation."
Tuesday's fourth stage of the Tour is a 163km run from Le Touquet to Lille.
The news continues a miserable last couple of years for the Luxembourger.
He missed the 2012 Tour after breaking a bone in his lower back in a crash at the Criterium du Dauphine a month beforehand.
Since then he has failed to muster anything like the form that took him to top two finishes in three successive Tours from 2009 to 2011.
Earlier this year he failed to finish any of the three Ardennes Classics and crashed in two of them.
He also had an anonymous ride at last month's Tour de Suisse and suffered the ignominy of being removed as Trek's team leader for the Tour.
He was instead supposed to help brother Frank Schleck and veteran Spaniard Haimar Zubeldia in the high mountain stages.
Source: AFP
GMT 22:27 2018 Thursday ,13 December
Russian swimmer Prigoda takes gold in China with new WR in men’s 200m breaststrokeGMT 11:54 2018 Tuesday ,11 December
Ajax and Bayern in tasty Champions League duel for first placeGMT 07:42 2018 Thursday ,15 November
After IOC pressure, Spain lets Kosovo athletes compete under flagGMT 14:21 2018 Tuesday ,30 October
US Mayweather to fight Russia’s Nurmagomedov strictly under UFC rulesGMT 09:23 2018 Thursday ,11 October
UEFA abstains from broadcasting games in Israeli settlementsGMT 12:32 2018 Friday ,28 September
Germany ready to learn from Russia’s experience of hosting 2018 FIFA World CupGMT 11:24 2018 Wednesday ,26 September
Malaysian football latest newsGMT 14:48 2018 Sunday ,09 September
Spain Team Coached by Luis Enrique Looks StrongMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor