Ben O'Connor will not start the tenth stage of the Tour de France on Tuesday. After crashing during the second stage, the Australian rider suffered a muscle injury to his right gluteus medius. In agreement with the team's sporting and medical management, it was decided on Monday that he would not continue the race.
Ben O'Connor: «The pain is preventing me from continuing.»
[su_quote cite=] «I've been battling with injury and pain for days, but yesterday (Sunday) it got worse. I was compensating on one side, which meant I was practically pedalling with just one leg. The pain is preventing me from continuing. I am obviously disappointed. The Tour de France is the biggest race in the world. I prepared all year and arrived with big goals. It's hard to feel yourself sinking and not being able to achieve your goal, simply because of an injury and bad luck. I'm going to recover and then focus on the Vuelta a Espana, which was part of my initial programme, where I hope to achieve the goals I set myself for the Tour de France. On Sunday, I was overjoyed for Bob. He's been through such a difficult time. I was suffering in the grupetto, but when I heard he'd won, I was smiling. I hope I can take all the bad luck that's been weighing us down with me in my luggage and that the lads will have a great end to the Tour. They're capable of it. »[/su_quote]
Serge Niamke – team doctor
[su_quote cite=]«Since his fall, Ben had been in pain. The vibrations on the cobbled stage did not help his recovery, and his second fall on Saturday during the eighth stage further aggravated the pain.»
Vincent Lavenu – general manager
[su_quote cite=]«Given Ben's physical condition, it was clear that he should not start the next stage in order to protect his physical integrity. We felt that he had continued racing these past few days for the team, driven by a desire not to disappoint us. The fact that we decided he should stop and rebuild himself physically and mentally was a relief to him. He will now be able to approach the second half of the season with peace of mind, with the Vuelta a España as his goal.»[/su_quote]
The number: 35
On Monday morning, the riders from the AG2R CITROËN team completed a 35 km ride with 600 metres of elevation gain around Morzine.
News: Six runners training in Corrençon-en-Vercors
From 9 to 15 July, Clément Berthet, Félix Gall, Anthony Jullien, Paul Lapeira, Valentin Paret-Peintre and Antoine Raugel are attending a training course in Corrençon-en-Vercors (Isère) under the guidance of Alexandre Abel and David Giraud.
