Lotto Soudal's Jens Keukeleire has become the latest rider to have to quit the 2018 Tour de France, following his crash on the cobbled ninth stage between Arras and Roubaix. Keukeleire hit the ground in the same accident that saw BMC's Richie Porte forced out of the race with a broken collarbone on Sunday. While Porte was said to have crashed after just 10 kilometres, Lotto Soudal stated that Keukeleire had crashed "after only 15 kilometres of racing". Either way, it was early on the stage, and well ahead of the day's first sector of cobbles, which came just under 50 kilometres into the 156.5km stage.ADVERTISEMENT And it was definitely the same crash, as Keukeleire confirmed. "Everyone was talking about the nervousness and the cobbles on Sunday, but the crash, in which among others Richie Porte and I got caught up, had nothing to do with that. Michael Valgren had a chain problem and that caused the crash," explained Keukeleire in a team press release. It was confirmed by BMC shortly after the crash that Porte's injuries were forcing him to retire, while Astana's Valgren was able to remount and finish the stage, and was even later seen at the front of the race helping his team leader Jakob Fuglsang.
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