Alberto Contador crashed heavily during stage ten of the Tour de France today and was forced to abandon the race.
Alberto Contador abandoned on stage 10 of the Tour de France. Photo: Eric Feferberg / AFP / Getty Images
The double Tour champion spent several minutes being treated by race doctors, blood dripping from his right knee.
He got back on his bike and was being helped by his Tinkoff-Saxo team-mates, some four minutes behind the peloton led by main rival Vincenzo Nibali’s Astana team.
But having dropped further back the decision was made for Contador to drop out with more than 80km of the stage remaining.
His withdrawal comes five days after reigning champion Chris Froome was also forced to abandon.
The action on the Bastille Day stage was expected to ignite on the concluding climb ahead of Tuesday’s rest day, but the Tour lost another leading protagonist after Mark Cavendish’s crash on day one and Froome’s exit.
Contador crashed on the approach to the third of six categorised climbs, the Col du Platzerwasel. The Spaniard received strapping to his right knee and lost four minutes as a result of the delay, falling nine minutes behind the day’s breakaway, which held a five-minute lead on the peloton.
The Astana team of Vincenzo Nibali led the main bunch and did not increase the pace on the 7.1km, category one ascent as Contador’s team-mates dropped back to help him. – The Guardian
