BMC: We didn't see Tejay's withdrawal coming

American GC hopeful was forced to abandon the Tour de France on stage 17 after suffering with a respiratory infection from stage 13

Tejay Van Garderen on stage seventeen of the 2015 Tour de France

(Image credit: Watson)

Tejay van Garderen's Tour de France came to an abrupt end as the American was forced to abandon the race due to a respiratory infection that he battled over the last week.

BMC Racing's captain, third overall at the start of the day behind overall leader Chris Froome (Team Sky), abandoned with 70 kilometres to race on the 17th stage to Pra Loup because of the resulting fatigue.

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Gregor Brown

Gregor Brown is an experienced cycling journalist, based in Florence, Italy. He has covered races all over the world for over a decade - following the Giro, Tour de France, and every major race since 2006. His love of cycling began with freestyle and BMX, before the 1998 Tour de France led him to a deep appreciation of the road racing season.