Primož Roglič gives up race lead as he abandons Critérium du Dauphiné

Primož Roglič has abandoned the Critérium du Dauphiné, forfeiting the race lead on the final stage five.

The Slovenian crashed during stage four, initially dizzy and ready to abandon the race, getting in his team car.

However, he soon felt well enough to continue and Jumbo-Visma team-mate Wout van Aert paced him back to the bunch and Roglič finished in the GC group.

Jumbo-Visma will not likely want to risk one of their GC leaders two weeks before the Tour and will have withdrawn their rider as a precaution, as Ineos did with Egan Bernal before stage four.

Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) now leads the race by 10 seconds to Guillaume Martin (Cofidis). Mikel Landa, Dani Martinez and Miguel Ángel López are all only a few seconds further back.

Update:

Jumbo-Visma team boss Richard Plugge has now said he hopes Roglič's hip injury won't derail his Tour de France preparation and hopes he will be fully recovered and ready to go in Nice in two week's time.

"He fell hard on his hip and we just want to see how he responds to that,” team boss Richard Plugge said of Roglič’s condition before the start of stage five. "It’s better safe than sorry. He was dizzy, but that was more the result of hitting the deck really hard and he was more like, ‘what happened?’ But after a couple of minutes he was mentally okay. There are no worries about a concussion."