Injured Porte pulls out of Giro

Richie Porte has withdrawn from the Giro d'Italia having failed to fully recover from a bad fall during Friday's 13th stage, Team Sky announced on Monday.

The Australian sustained injuries to his knee and hip in the crash near the end of stage to Jesolo and took the decision to abandon on what is the second rest day ahead of Sunday's conclusion in Milan.

"I'm gutted it's ended this way," Porte said on teamsky.com.

"The Giro has been my main goal this year and I've worked incredibly hard all season with this race in mind."

Porte had been well positioned in fourth place before incurring a two-minute time penalty last Tuesday for receiving a wheel change from fellow Australian Simon Clarke, of rival team Orica-GreenEdge.

"I've had a lot of back luck this week with the puncture and the time penalty, but it was the crash on Friday that has taken its toll," he said.

"I fell heavily on my knee and hip which caused me a lot of pain on Saturday's time trial and yesterday's stage.

"I just wanted to keep trying and give it everything but now the medical team have advised me not to continue."

Porte said that he would now turn his focus on getting fully for the Tour de France where he will be the main backup to 2013 winner Chris Froome in Team Sky.

Friend and training partner Froome wrote on Twitter: "We all face adversity at some point, it's how you come back from it that counts! #ForzaRichie @richie_porte".
Source: AFP