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.
-
-
Vaccination rates of teams vary between 40 to 100 per cent as UCI updates Covid rules ahead of new season
Cycling's governing body conducted a survey over the winter and said the response was 'satisfactory'
-
Tweets of the week: Chris Froome tries out golf, Ben King has a humungous fish, plus much more
Thank you, by clicking this article you ensure I continue to be paid a living wage for providing the essential task of putting 10 tweets into an article and posting it back onto social media
-
'The war is far from over' at the Giro d'Italia 2021, according to Romain Bardet
The French rider looks to be set for a big push towards the podium spots in the final week of the race
-
Giro d'Italia 2021: Romain Bardet 'didn't realise' he finished second behind Egan Bernal
The Frenchman put in a strong performance on the final climb and descent of stage 16 to move up in the overall standings
-
Giro d'Italia 2020: Rider start times for the decisive stage 21 time trial
All the start times for the decisive stage 21 of the Giro d'Italia 2020 with Jai Hindley of Team Sunweb and Tao Geoghegan-Hart of Ineos Grenadiers battling for pink
-
Jai Hindley takes unforgettable stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia as João Almeida falls out of race lead
Jai Hindley sprinted to an unforgettable victory over Tao Geoghegan Hart on stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia 2020, after a fascinating battle over the Stelvio.
-
Giro d’Italia 2020: Michael Matthews withdraws from race after coronavirus diagnosis
Michael Matthews has withdrawn from the Giro d’Italia after testing positive for coronavirus.
-
'I did my best Tom Dumoulin impression': Chad Haga saves Sunweb's Giro d'Italia with time trial win
American Chad Haga tipped his hat to his Sunweb team-mate Tom Dumoulin, saying he did the best impression of the former world champion to win the Giro d'Italia's closing time trial in Verona.
-
Tom Dumoulin forced to rest for a week after abandoning Giro d’Italia
Tom Dumoulin will be forced to rest for at least a week after a crash caused him to abandon the Giro d’Italia.
-
'I wasn't ready to go home': Tom Dumoulin devastated to be forced out of Giro d'Italia 2019
Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) tried to fight on in the 2019 Giro d'Italia, two years after winning the overall, but found the pain in his knee too much after crashing in stage four.
