Primoz Roglic withdrew from the race ahead of stage 13 on Friday, a day after his second crash in as many stages of the Tour de France.
His Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team confirmed that Roglic will not start the anticipated sprint stage to Pau, with the Pyrenees approaching at the weekend.
Roglic, who was fourth overall before stage 12 by 2min 15sec, was one of several riders to fall 12.2km into Thursday’s race to Villeneuve-sur-Lot. He crossed the finish line with a torn jersey after finishing 2min 27sec behind the rest of the field and ended the day sixth overall, 4min 42sec behind race leader Tadej Pogacar.
The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team announced on social media: “Primoz Roglic was carefully examined by our medical team after yesterday’s stage and again this morning. The decision has been taken that he will not start today, to focus on the upcoming goals.
“We wish you a speedy recovery, Primosh.”
The news of Roglic’s withdrawal now leaves the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team with six riders for the rest of the Tour, having already lost Alexander Vlasov to a broken ankle after a crash on stage 10.
The team’s best rider in the general classification now is Jay Hindley, who is 18th overall with a time of 19:25.
His team have yet to confirm Roglic’s future plans, although the Slovenian is likely to now turn his focus to the Vuelta a Espana and attempt to equal a record-equalling fourth title in a race he won three times between 2019 and 2021.
Roglic’s withdrawal from the 2024 Tour means he has not completed any of his last three Tour starts and has finished just three of his last seven. The 34-year-old left the 2021 and 2022 Tours after days of fighting after crashes in the first week, while in the 2022 Tour he was forced out of the race from second place after a crash just four days before Madrid.
