Alberto Contador, the two-times Tour de France victor, has been ruled out of next month’s Olympics Games with three leg fractures.
Advertisement
The Spaniard was already having a miserable Tour when he abandoned the race during Sunday’s ninth stage, after having twice crashed in the first two stages and struggled with illness.
The Spaniard, who was 20th overall, 3:12 off the pace, had launched an early attack along with compatriot Alejandro Valverde as they looked to unsettle overall leader Chris Froome.
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 auto.
Contador appeared with Dr Leyes of the Cemtro Clinic in Madrid, who said the Tinkoff rider had suffered multiple injuries, including to his left thigh and hamstring, which affected his ability to pedal.
The 33-year-old is one of a select group who have won all three Grand Tours – the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España – but was forced to pull out suffering with a virus.
“As he had attacked, he obviously wasn’t feeling too bad but I guess he was still suffering from his injuries”.
He was among the three pre-race favorites this year alongside defending champion Chris Froome and Colombian climber Nairo Quintana.
After the crash, Contador got back on his bike with a ripped jersey and scrapes on his right shoulder. He was awarded the same time as his main rivals after an ugly crash in the final stretch split the peloton. “And I did not feel good since I crashed on the first day”.
Advertisement
Contador fell off his bike 60 kilometres into the 183-km ride from Saint Lo, and crossed the finish line 48 seconds behind Sagan.
