Tour-Ausch for favorite Roglic after heavy fall
The fall the day before was too harsh: Favorite Primoz Roglic had to withdraw from the Tour de France. His shoulder is heavily loaded. The German team Red-Bull-Bora-hansgrohe is heavily affected.
Bitter news for Red-Bull-Bora-hansgrohe: The co-favorite Primoz Roglic had to withdraw from the Tour de France prematurely. According to the German team's statement, the captain will not start for the 13th stage of the French Grand Tour due to injuries from the day before. The team's hopes for a podium finish are thus definitively over.
"Primoz Roglic was examined by our medical team both yesterday and this morning. It was decided that he would not start today to focus on upcoming goals," the team statement read.
The Slovenian was 4 minutes and 42 seconds behind in the general classification after the previous stage and had only slim chances for a podium finish. Roglic, who fell during the 11th stage in a descent and lost almost two and a half minutes, came into the finish on Thursday, 12 kilometers before the end, with a bloody shoulder and a marked helmet.
Alexey Lutsenko crashed over a road section and triggered a chain reaction. The top three in the overall classification were not involved in the crash that ended Roglic's race. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) led before the 13th stage from Agen to Pau by 66 seconds over Remco Evenepoel (Belgium/Soudal Quick-Step) and the Danish title defender Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike/+ 1:14 minutes).
The winner of the Giro d'Italia (2023) and three-time winner of the Spanish Vuelta had joined the German team from Raubling this season. The clear goal was to help win the Tour. However, some time losses to the competition in the first half of the Tour and the absence of helper Alexander Wlassow made the goal increasingly difficult to achieve.
Despite Roglic's favorite status in 'Tour-A', the fall in the 11th stage took a significant toll on him. His German team, Red-Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, was greatly affected by his premature withdrawal. The German team's hopes for a podium finish in the Tour de France ultimately faded after the incident.
