After 17 days of racing, 14 riders have abandoned the Vuelta a España.
The first of 176 starters to depart was Katusha-Alpecin’s Maurits Lammertink. He left the race ahead of stage eight, the team cited ‘persistent abdominal pain’, adding ‘further examinations are needed’.
The second departure was that of Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) who announced he would not start stage 10 due to the “imminent arrival” of twins to he and his wife, Jess.
Martin said: “After consultation with the team and doctors in Andorra, we have come to the decision it is best for me to travel home to Andorra in order to support my wife with the imminent arrival of our twin girls.”
Stage 11 set a blistering pace, with Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La-Mondiale), Georg Preidler (Groupama-FDJ) and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) all ending their time in Spain.
Preidler’s Groupama-FDJ team said he was suffering “dental problems” whilst Bouhanni cited stomach problems.
José Gonçalves (Katusha-Alpecin) abandoned the race during stage 13. He last completed the Vuelta in 2015, abandoning on stage six in 2017 and stage 11 in 2016.
Stage 14 saw Team Sky lose two of its riders: Dylan van Baarle was discovered to have a fractured pelvis after the finish line crash on stage 12 and Pavel Sivakov could not continue due to injuries sustained in a stage nine crash.
Sivakov posted on Instagram, saying: “With the very hard racing going on here everyday I was never able to recover from that nasty crash last Sunday. Today I couldn’t go any deeper.”
Having won the time trial on stage 16, Rohan Dennis (BMC) decided to call it a day in Spain, heading off ahead of stage 17 to begin preparations for the World Championships later this month.
Jordi Simón (Burgos-BH) did not start the following day, after crashing and colliding with a team car during stage 17. He sustained multiple fractures and was taken to hospital.
At the 2017 Vuelta, there were 37 riders in total who did not reach Madrid.
Notably, Warren Barguil was sent home by Sunweb, ahead of stage eight for ‘not conforming to the team goal’, Rohan Dennis (BMC) left with illness after the second rest day and David de la Cruz (then riding for Quick-Step Floors) crashed out on the penultimate stage, leaving behind an 11th place overall.
Stage 18 abandonments
Mark Padun (Bahrain-Merida) – crash on stage 17
Jordi Simón (Burgos-BH) – crash with a team car on stage 17
Stage 17 abandonments
Rohan Dennis (BMC) – to focus on World Championships
Stage 16 abandonments
Nicola Conci (Trek Segafredo) – to recover ahead of end of season races
Stage 15 abandonments
Bjorg Lambrecht (Lotto-Soudal)
Stage 14 abandonments
Dylan van Baarle (Sky) – fractured pelvis after crash on stage 12
Pavel Sivakov (Sky) – injury after crash on stage 9
Stage 13 abandonments
José Gonçalves (Katusha-Alpecin) – injury
Stage 12 abandonments
No withdrawals
Stage 11 abandonments
Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La-Mondiale)
Georg Preidler (Groupama-FDJ) – wisdom tooth pain
Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) – illness
Stage 10 abandonments
Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) – family commitments
Simone Petilli (UAE Team Emirates) – crash
Stage nine abandonments
No withdrawals
Stage eight abandonments
Maurits Lammertink (Katusha-Alpecin) – illness
Stage seven abandonments
No withdrawals
Stage six abandonments
No withdrawals
Stage five abandonments
No withdrawals
Stage four abandonments
No withdrawals
Stage three abandonments
No withdrawals
Stage two abandonments
No withdrawals
Stage 0ne abandonments
No withdrawals
This page will be updated as the race progresses
