The Giro d'Italia suffered its second major abandonment in two days, although the departure of Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) midway through stage 11 was not much of a shock.
The Dutchman has reportedly been suffering from saddle sores in recent days and climbed off the bike at the feed zone and hopped into the team car.
Dumoulin wore pink for six days at the start of the Giro - winning the opening time trial in front of adoring fans in Apeldoorn, although he temporarily relinquished it to Marcel Kittel after stage three.
Tom Dumoulin's Giant Propel TT bike
A challenging stage four saw Dumoulin finish second and move back into the pink jersey but the 25-year-old capitulated on the stage eight climb of Alpe di Poti en route to Arezzo.
He dropped 2-51 on the day and could only manage 15th place in the following day's time trial. Back in the saddle after the rest day, Dumoulin dropped a further 13 minutes on stage 10 to Sestola and looked disconsolate after the stage as his sores had not cleared up.
Dumoulin's next race will be the Tour of Poland, which starts on July 12, as he builds fitness and form for the Rio Olympic Games.
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