Romain Bardet and James Shaw have become the fourth and fifth abandon in stage 14 of the Tour de France after the French allrounder and British Tour debutant crashed early on the stage.
TV images showed dsm-firmenich leader Bardet being helped to his feet after falling on a fast, sweeping descent off the opening climb of the day, the third-category Col de Saxel. The Frenchman was reportedly suffering from an injured knee and elbow.
Several teammates waited for Bardet but the 32-year-old was unable to continue. He was lying 12th overall heading into the day.
EF-Education EasyPost rider Shaw was also reported to have abandoned after being caught up in the same crash. The Briton was the second EF rider to quit on stage 14, after Esteban Chaves was one of three riders forced to leave the Tour following the mass pile-up in the opening kilometres.
Bardet was already having a very tough Tour, having gone down with a bronchial infection earlier in week two. He finished 19th on the Grand Colombier summit finish on Friday.
“When it gets hard I get coughing fits,” he told L’Equipe on the stage. “The Tour is very tough when you’re not at 100%.”
Fifth in the Tour de Suisse, Bardet looked to be in good form pre-race. Sixth overall last year, Bardet already has three Tour stages in his palmarès, including at Sunday’s summit finish at Mont-Blanc, where he won in 2016 en route to finishing second in Paris behind Chris Froome.
Shaw, meanwhile, has been in the break twice during the Tour, finishing fifth on stage 5 to Cauterets and seventh on Friday’s stage 13 to Grand Colombier.
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