Britain’s Tao Geoghegan Hart is out of the Giro d’Italia after a crash midway through stage 11.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider looked in distress after falling before being taken away in an ambulance.
Team-mate Geraint Thomas and Jumbo-Visma’s Primoz Roglic were also involved in the crash, but both got back up and continued.
“I’m devastated this is how my Giro ended,” Geoghegan Hart tweeted later on Wednesday.
“Thank you all for your messages and support. I was so excited about the remainder of this race and loving every minute of it.”
The crash happened on a slippery descent, with several riders ending up on the ground.
Geoghegan Hart, who won the Giro d’Italia in 2020, was five seconds behind compatriot Thomas in the overall standings with about 70km left in the day’s race, and Roglic in second.
Thomas and Roglic’s races were both impacted but both re-joined the peloton in what has been a weather-affected tour so far.
It was a frantic finish to what is the longest stage in the race, with UAE Team Emirates rider Pascal Ackermann coming out on top just ahead of Bahrain Victorious’ Jonathan Milan in second and Astana Qazaqstan’s Mark Cavendish in third.
The day began with a further four withdrawals from Soudal Quick-Step’s squad due to Covid, following previous leader Remco Evenepoel being forced out after testing positive on Sunday.
Race leader Thomas said Geoghegan Hart’s crash was a “shock”.
“At the moment of the crash I could see Tao was down and hurt but there were other boys with him so I just had to get back on the bike and stay in the race. I had to focus as we still had 50km to go on very wet roads.
“But now it has sunk in it’s a big blow that Tao has abandoned and [teammate] Pavel [Sivakov] is also well down after waiting for him and pretty banged up as well.
“It’s certainly never straight forward in the Giro but the weather this time is the worst I’ve known and the wet roads are just adding to the stress and chaos.”
Stage 11 results
- Pascal Ackermann (Ger/UAE Team Emirates) 5hrs 9mins 2secs
- Jonathan Milan (Ita/Bahrain Victorious) Same time
- Mark Cavendish (GB/Astana – Qazaqstan Team)
- Mads Pedersen (Den/Trek – Segafredo)
- Stefano Oldani (Ita/Alpecin -Deceuninck)
- Vincenzo Albanese – Kometa Cycling Team
- Marius Mayrhofer (Ger/Team DSM)
- Davide Ballerini (Ita/Soudal – Quick-step)
- Simone Consonni (Yes/Cofidis)
- Arne Marit (Bel/Intermarché-Circus-Wanty)
General classification
- Geraint Thomas (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) 44hrs 35mins 35secs
- Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) +2secs
- Joao Almeida (By/UAE Team Emirates) +22secs
- Andreas Leknessund (Nor/Team DSM) +35secs
- Damiano Caruso (Ita/Bahrain Victorious) +1min 28secs
- Lennard Kamna (Ger/BORA-hansgrohe) +1min 52secs
- Edward Dunbar (Ire/Jayco-AIUla) +2mins 32secs
- Thymen Arensman (Ned/Ineos Grenadiers) Same time
- Laurens De Plus (Bel/Ineos Grenadiers) +2min 36secs
- Aurelien Paret-Peintre (Female/AG2R – Citroën Team) +2min 48secs
