Hard blow for Geraint Thomas and the Ineos team. The Welsh, the outgoing winner of the Tour de France, fell heavily on Tuesday at the 4th stage of the Tour de Suisse and was forced to retire. Thomas fell in a straight line about thirty kilometers from the finish and sat for a long time on the ground, supported by members of his team.
According to footage from the Swiss TV channel RTS , he was hit on the right shoulder where one could distinguish abrasions. The Welsh will take exams at the hospital to determine the severity of his injury, within three weeks of the start of the Great Loop.
Stupor on the road to the Tour of Switzerland with the fall of Geraint Thomas # the teamVELOpic.twitter.com / TOz1OwCVU8
- the channel The Team (@lachainelequipe) June 18, 2019Black series for Ineos
The desertion of Thomas is a new blow for the team Ineos (ex-Team Sky), who lost last week Chris Froome. The British, four-time winner of the Tour, was seriously injured on the Dauphine. Victim of a fracture of the fibula, Froome will not be at the start of the Tour on July 6th in Brussels.
If Thomas had to turn out, the Ineos team would have to rely on the young prodigy Egan Bernal. The Colombian, announced as one of the next stars of the pack, makes his return after a fracture of the clavicle suffered in May, a week before the start of the Giro d'Italia.