Spain’s Alberto Contador gets in his team auto after dropping out of the 184,5 km ninth stage of the 103rd edition of the Tour de France cycling race between Vielha Val d’Aran and Andorre Arcalis Sunday.
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Contador attempted to get into an early breakaway on the stage, but then spent much of the race at the back of the peloton chatting with his team vehicle.
Injuries may have led to infection, as Tinkoff team director Sean Yates said Contador had developed a fever.
He was sitting 20th overall at more than three minutes off race leader Chris Froome at the start of the day.
Alberto Contador has pulled out of the Tour de France after retiring halfway through stage nine.
But Contador was unable to keep up with the pace of the leaders and quickly dropped back to the pack before spending long periods of time deep in discussion with his team-mates and staff in the Tinkoff team vehicle.
He had started the stage in a bright fashion, though, attacking alongside fellow Spaniard Alejandro Valverde to catch a group of early breakaway riders on the first climb. These crashes are catching up with me.
As the race entered the Pyrenees, Contador looked set to continue to battle on.
“As he had attacked, he obviously wasn’t feeling too bad but I guess he was still suffering from his injuries”.
Following Saturday’s eighth stage he even admitted that he may have to hand over team leadership duties to Czech Roman Kreuziger, who is 12th at just 34sec behind Froome.
“Not going to the Summer Games is a hard blow, it was my second objective after the Tour”, Contador said.
Contador, 33, crashed out of the Tour in 2014 and finished fifth a year ago after winning the Giro d’Italia.
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Contador, one of only six men with titles in all three grand tours (France, Italy, Spain), quickly faded away though and rolled down to his team auto several times.
