Slovenian Primoz Roglic dropped out of the Tour de France before the 15th stage.
“We made this decision to allow my injuries to heal properly,” said the 32-year-old from Team Jumbo-Visma. Roglic started the tour as one of the favorites, but was only 21st in the overall standings, more than 33 minutes behind. His team-mate Jonas Vingegaard, who finished second last year, is wearing the yellow jersey.
Roglic had a bad fall on the fifth section from Lille to Arenberg, which covered 19.4 kilometers of cobblestones on the route of the spring classic Paris-Roubaix. He had dislocated his shoulder and then quickly put himself back in place.
“I’m proud of my contribution to the current standings and I trust that the team will achieve our yellow and green ambitions,” said Roglic.
It is the second year in a row that Roglic has not finished the Tour de France. Last year he also fell early and finally gave up after the eighth stage in Tignes.
In the course of the 15th stage, the team of Vingegaard and Roglic then had to cope with the next serious failure. The Dutch noble helper Steven Kruijswijk was seriously injured in a fall and had to be taken away by the ambulance. Jumbo-Visma are therefore only six drivers available in the last week of the tour.
In addition, Magnus Cort Nielsen and Simon Clarke tested positive for the corona virus on Sunday. The Dane Cort Nielsen had won the tenth stage and was particularly aggressive around the Grand Depart in his native Denmark. Clarke won the cobblestone stage to Arenberg. It’s Corona Falls seven and eight on the tour.
This means that 153 of the 176 drivers who originally started are still in the field. All nine Germans are still there.