Richie Porte has abandoned the 2018 Tour de France after crashing on stage 9. The BMC Racing team leader fell inside the opening 10 kilometres of the stage, well before the race reached the 15 sectors of cobbles that defined Sunday's route to Roubaix. Porte came into the Tour de France looking to secure a podium spot, and after clinching the Tour de Suisse title in June, looked set to challenge Chris Froome (Team Sky) for the yellow jersey. However just 10 kilometres into stage 9 Porte's race was over. After his fall he was able to sit up, and move to the side of the road, but he held his right shoulder and was unable to remount his bike. A full medical diagnosis has not been released by the team.ADVERTISEMENT Porte, 33, came into stage 9 sitting 10th on GC. He abandoned last year's Tour de France on stage 9 after a fall involving Dan Martin. Several other riders crashed at the same time as Porte, including his teammate Stefan Kung, Andre Greipel and Jens Keukeleire of Lotto Soudal, Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Jose Rojas (Movistar). The Spaniard was also forced to abandon the Tour de France. In tears, @richie_porte quits @LeTour. Richie Porte, en larmes, abandonne. #TDF2018 pic.twitter.com/vZUztJBHKv — Le Tour de France (@LeTour) July 15, 2018
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com.read full article
