Australian rider Richie Porte, has just abandoned Tour de France after getting involved in a heavy fall on Sunday’s ninth stage.
Porte was among the favourites of this season’s biggest Grand Tour but sadly, he had to abandon the race midway through meaning current champion Chris Froome has now one less competition and more chance to grab the fifth Tour de France title of his career.
Yesterday’s stage saw several crashes one of them involving Froome as well who was able to get up and get going only minutes after the crash. Porte on the other hand, faced fractures mostly on his collarbone and arms.
Although he tried really hard to get up and continue the race, he was unable to do so and waited for the ambulance to give him the proper medical care.
#TDF2018 There was a crash in the bunch at KM10 and it looks like @richie_porte went down. More information to come when we have it.
— BMC Racing Team (@BMCProTeam) July 15, 2018
Not as planned…
#TDF2018 We are devastated to say that @richie_porte has crashed out of stage 9. We will provide more information when we can. Thank you to all of our fans for your support. #Ride_BMC pic.twitter.com/PjgYvD0g8Q
— BMC Racing Team (@BMCProTeam) July 15, 2018
After winning the Tour de Suisse only a few weeks ago, Porte left everyone believing that he was more than ready to fight and win Le Tour.
However, the 33-year old’s luck seemed to not be on his side struggling to win time especially since he had already lost too much time on stage one after a sudden crash and was almost nine minutes behind Greg Van Avermaet in the overall standings. And now, he is forced to abandon the race…
Richie Porte has abandoned the Tour. Race radio has confirmed. #tdf #SBSTDF #tdf18
— Matthew Keenan (@mwkeenan) July 15, 2018