Gerrans quits Tour de France

SimonGerrans_high_s

Australia's road cycling champion got tangled up with Omega Pharma-Quick Step's Mark Cavendish in the final few metres of stage one, which saw the latter leave the race with a dislocated shoulder.

While Gerrans managed to ride on following the crash in the Yorkshire town of Harrogate, it effectively ruined his shot at a fourth career stage victory in cycling's grandest event, as he struggled through two-and-a-half weeks of racing before pulling out.

With the Tour having entered the Pyrenees on Tuesday - for the first of three mountainous stages - Gerrans decided to stop rather than fight on.

"Obviously it's disappointing not to complete the Tour de France and make it to Paris," Gerrans said in a statement published on his team's website.

"But with the injuries I have from stage one I think the best decision is actually to stop now and completely recover.

"I know I haven't been 100 per cent right since my crash but I was hoping to improve throughout the race. That hasn't really been the case so I have been putting on a brave face and doing what I can each day.

"I have some big goals in the second half of the season and if I am going to perform to meet these objectives I really need to make sure my health is 100 per cent right."

Gerrans had been widely expected to challenge for line honours on a number of occasions at this year's Tour but the best finish the 34-year-old Australian could manage was fifth on the seventh and 11th stages.

Orica-GreenEDGE's sport director Matt White agreed it was the right decision for the versatile cyclist to withdraw.

"The only way he is going to regain his full fitness, his full health, is to go home and have a rest," White said. 

"He is not going to recover finishing off these last few days."

Gerrans won the Tour Down Under's overall ochre jersey in January and Liege-Bastogne-Liege in April.

With his ability to climb better than most sprinters and sprint better than all but the most-powerful of riders, Gerrans could be a genuine contender for the points jersey at the Vuelta a Espana, which will start on August 24, or the UCI Road World Championship in northern Spain on September 28.

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