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You Won't See Him No More

A list of those who have disappeared from the Tour, and why:

  • Michael Rogers: While speculation the last 24 hours centered on his wrist and knee, he in fact sustained a dislocated shoulder from his meeting with a Cormet de Roseland guard rail.
  • Stuart O'Grady: He too crashed, and badly: he's up to nine broken ribs now, along with a collapsed lung and a dislocated shoulder.
  • Patrik Sinkewicz: Hit a spectator on his way back down the mountain after the race yesterday, broke his nose, and is not expected to continue.
  • Robbie McEwen, Danilo Napolitano, Cédric Hervé: Hors délai, eliminated despite finishing. McEwen's sore knees and other ailments from stage 1 crash slowed him down too much.
  • Oscar Freire: DNS yesterday, bottom boils making life too miserable.
  • Rubén Lobato, DNS yesterday.
  • Enrico Degano: the first man to start the prologue crashed out yesterday.
  • Ivan Parra, Roman Feillu, Mark Cavendish: stepped off the bike yesterday (crashes, etc.)
  • Tomas Vaitkus: crashed, thumb broken in several places.
  • Geoffrey Lequatre: Crashed, DNS Friday.
  • Rémy Di Grégorio, Bret Lancaster: Crashed, DNF Thursday.
  • Xabier Zandio: DNF Wednesday.
  • Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez: Hit someone's rear windshield in stage 1, withdrew.

I don't think the number of crashes and withdrawals are anything unusual, but they've been rather dramatic and unpleasant. For most of these guys, leaving the Tour is a miserable fate, after all the preparation and work needed to just secure a spot, or the hopes of success. Even for a guy like McEwen, who falls into the category of rider not always expected to survive the mountains, missing the time cutoff is a bitter pill. As Robbie said, he wasn't stepping off the bike. They were going to have to eliminate him to make him stop. Better luck next time, guys.