Hesjedal pulls out of Tour

Ryder Hesjedal’s team, Garmin-Sharp, has announced that he will not start the 7th stage of the Tour de France.  The Giro d’Italia winner withdrew from the Tour due to injuries sustain in yesterday’s stage six crash, which took out many GC contenders as well as virtually the entire Garmin-Sharp team.  David Zabriskie was the only teammate to escape the crash unscathed. He was in a breakaway ahead of the main bunch.

Prior to Stage 6, Hesjedal was sitting comfortably in 9th overall.  At the end of Stage 6, however, he and his teammates crashed 20 km to the finish line and rolled in about 13 minutes behind the main field, effectively ending his hopes of winning the yellow jersey.  Hesjedal’s Garmin-Sharp teammate Tom Danielson also abandoned after crashing during the previous day’s stage, his second accident of the Tour.

Hesjedal is currently selected to represent Canada at both the road race and time trial in this year’s Olympics taking place in London in August, It is not yet clear whether this crash will affect his status for that event.