Andy Schleck abandons Tour de France

Trek Factory Rider Andy Schleck suffering with knee injury after stage three crash, and quits Tour de France

Andy Schleck has abandoned the 2014 Tour de France, suffering with injuries sustained as a result of a crash during stage three to London on Monday.

Schleck’s Trek Factory Racing team announced via Twitter that the Luxembourg rider had withdrawn from the race, and would not start stage four in France:

“We are sad to announce that Andy Schleck cannot take the start in @letour today. The ligaments and meniscus in the right knee are too severely damaged from his crash in yesterday’s final. He will travel to Basel now for examination and a possible operation.”

Schleck appeared to have been caught in a collision with a spectator standing in the road taking a photo of the race.

Schleck lost one minute and 19 seconds on stage winner Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) at the end of stage two to Sheffield, and ended the follow day’s stage in 56th place at 2’24” after losing further time due to the crash.

His brother Frank is faring better, in 44th place and 1’21” behind Nibali.

The performance of both Schleck brothers is a far cry from 2011, when Andy and Frank placed second and third overall respectively behind winner Cadel Evans. Andy was awarded the 2010 Tour win after Alberto Contador was stripped of the result after testing positive for clenbuterol during the race.

Andy Schleck’s departure is the third withdrawal from the race after Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida).