"The fall of too much".
After being caught in the collective fall of Friday's stage, the rider of the Tour, former French champion Warren Barguil has announced that he is giving up the next stage.
The Breton regrets all the same not to take part in this fourteenth stage: "it corresponded to me".
Former French champion Warren Barguil gave up continuing the Tour de France on Saturday morning before the start of the 14th stage in Carcassonne, his Arkea-Samsic team announced. Barguil was caught in the collective fall of Friday's stage which caused the abandonment of three riders before the finish, the Briton Simon Yates, the Australian Lucas Hamilton and the German Roger Kluge.
"I wanted to finish the stage and also the Tour but it is one fall too many," said Barguil on Saturday morning.
"I have sequelae in my back and buttocks, I have trouble forcing my right leg."
"I had checked this stage, it corresponded to me", regretted the Breton about the stage leading from Carcassonne to Quillan.
"It's a big heartbreak for me, I experienced a lot of emotions on the Tour, it's hard to give up".
"You have to know how to say stop"
"We made the decision with the team and the medical staff. You have to know how to say stop. I will try to recover from this fall and be operational as quickly as possible for me and for the team", concluded the Morbihannais , double stage winner and polka dot jersey in 2017. Friday evening, the French team had drawn up the medical assessment of the day. "Warren Barguil has superficial wounds all over his back, as well as a contusion of the right ankle and large bruises in the buttocks and ischios," said Arkea-Samsic.
Another of his riders, Nacer Bouhanni, was also affected in the 13th stage. "He does not suffer from any fracture. He has dorsal-lumbar contusions, as well as burns to the knee, hands and buttocks", according to the report of his team.