Tour de France winner Chris Froome became the latest high-profile casualty of the Vuelta a Espana after withdrawing before the start of yesterday’s 12th stage due to a broken bone in his foot.
“Scans this morning confirm fractured navicular. End of the Vuelta for me,” Froome posted on his Twitter account.
Froome’s hopes of becoming just the third man to win the Tour and the Vuelta in the same year were realistically ended on Wednesday when he injured his foot while crashing on the daunting mountainous 138km ride through Andorra and fell more than seven minutes behind new general classification leader Fabio Aru.
Photo: EPA
The 30-year-old Team Sky rider was hoping to emulate Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil (1963) and Bernard Hinault (1978) by completing the Tour-Vuelta double and was very much in contention before Wednesday’s stage, dubbed as one of the hardest in the Vuelta’s 80-year history with four category one and a special category climb.
Froome got off to the worst possible start, though, as a crash early in the day left him needing crutches to walk at the end of the stage.
“Knocked sideways into a barrier and stone wall today. Further scans in the morning, but start unlikely as I can’t walk without crutches,” Froome posted on Twitter on Wednesday. “Really appreciate all the messages of support, I did my best to hang in there today as best I could with the hope of continuing.”
Photo: EPA
Froome’s withdrawal is the latest blow for the tour organizers in a race that has been mired by dangerous crashes and controversy.
The team time trial on the first stage did not count toward the general classification as it was deemed too dangerous. Italian Vincenzo Nibali of Astana, one of just six men to have won all three Grand Tours, was then disqualified on the second stage for being towed by his team car.
Belgian rider Kris Boeckmans remains in an induced coma after a serious crash on the eighth stage, which also forced general classification contenders Dan Martin and Tejay van Garderen to retire.
On the same day, stage three winner Peter Sagan was run over by an auxiliary motorcycle forcing him to withdraw and bringing a stinging response from his Tinkoff-Saxo team.
Tinkoff-Saxo were further incensed when another one of their riders, Sergio Paulinho, was also forced to retire after being hit by a TV motorcycle on Wednesday.
Oleg Tinkoff, the Russian entrepreneur who owns the team, has even threatened to withdraw from the race in protest at the safety provided to riders by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), who run the event.
“I’m considering now to take the team off the #Vuelta2015. Boycott #ASO for this. They pay us NO money for the race and even damage riders,” he posted on Twitter.
Astana rider Mikel Landa, third in this year’s Giro d’Italia, won Wednesday’s stage at the summit of Cortals d’Encamp in Andorra, while his teammate Aru seized the overall lead.
Aru, 25 and second in the Giro, attacked on the final ascent take the overall leader’s maillot rojo from Dutchman Tom Dumoulin.
It represented quite a turnaround in Astana’s fortunes after Nibali’s expulsion.
“Aru has struck a huge blow in terms of the overall standings, one hopes he can go all the way,” Landa said.
The other two cyclists who filled the podium spots at the Tour de France also struggled, Alejandro Valverde coming in more than a minute in arrears of Aru and Nairo Quintana, the runner-up to Froome in France, losing more than three minutes.
Landa, 25, was part of the initial breakaway group and went clear on his own on the final first category climb.
Yesterday’s 12th stage was a gentler ride for the remaining cyclists, a 173km run from Escaldes-Engordany, Andorra, to Lleida, Spain, with a finish suited to the sprinters.
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