Fernando Gaviria set to miss Tour de France through injury
The Colombian will miss this year's Tour after taking the yellow jersey on stage one in 2018
Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) is set to miss the 2019 Tour de France after failing to recover from a knee injury in time for the Grand Départ in Brussels on July 6.
The Colombian picked up the knee injury in a crash at the International Track Cup in California in April.
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The news was broken by Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, with UAE Team Emirates expected to soon confirm Gaviria's omission from their Tour line up.
Gaviria took the start line at the 2019 Giro d'Italia but climbed off an hour into stage seven, with complaints over knee pain that clearly continue to plague him.
The Colombian left the Italian Grand Tour with one stage win after Elia Viviani was relegated after performing an illegal sprint on stage three.
2019 has so far been a season to forget for the 24-year-old, having retired from the Tour of Colombia on stage three due to respiratory problems, which also caused him to be a non-starter at Paris-Roubaix.
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According to El Tiempo, the plan to save the Colombian's season is for him to recover and prepare for the Vuelta a España in August.
The news of his failure to return to the Tour de France won't come as a complete surprise as Gaviria's coach had warned at the Giro that there was "a big question mark" hanging over the Colombian's inclusion for the French Grand Tour.
In 2018, Gaviria won the stage one bunch sprint to take the yellow jersey, following up his debut Tour win three days later edging out Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) on the line by the smallest of margins.
He then climbed off alongside André Greipel (Arkéa-Samsic) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) on stage 11 en route to climbing Alpe d'Huez.
Gaviria then went to the Tour of Turkey before suffering a broken collarbone in a crash, which ended his 2018 campaign.
At the end of the season, Gaviria made the switch from Deceuninck - Quick-Step to UAE Team Emirates, signing a three- year deal.
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Jonny was Cycling Weekly's Weekend Editor until 2022.
I like writing offbeat features and eating too much bread when working out on the road at bike races.
Before joining Cycling Weekly I worked at The Tab and I've also written for Vice, Time Out, and worked freelance for The Telegraph (I know, but I needed the money at the time so let me live).
I also worked for ITV Cycling between 2011-2018 on their Tour de France and Vuelta a España coverage. Sometimes I'd be helping the producers make the programme and other times I'd be getting the lunches. Just in case you were wondering - Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen had the same ham sandwich every day, it was great.
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