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Wiggins out of Tour de France with broken collarbone

The Associated PressPosted:Jul 8, 2011 11:46 AM ETLast Updated: Jul 8, 2011 1:42 PM ET 

Bradley Wiggins clutches his left side after Friday’s crash during the seventh stage. (Christophe Ena/Associated Press)

British rider Bradley Wiggins pulled out of the Tour de France Friday after getting caught in a huge crash that took down several riders late in the seventh stage.

Mark Cavendish won the seventh stage, capturing his 17th career stage win as world champion Thor Hushovd retained the yellow jersey.

A pileup towards the end of the 218-kilometre race south across the Loire River valley under sunny skies cost British champion Bradley Wiggins his hopes of a final podium place in Paris, as Sky’s leader crashed out of the race with what the team stated later was a broken collarbone.

HTC-Highroad rider Cavendish sprinted out of the speeding pack in the last few hundred meters, beating fellow sprint specialists Alessandro Petacchi and Andre Greipel to the finish.

Winning the sprint in Chateauroux, where Cavendish notched his first Tour de France win in 2008, “was a very special stage for me,” Cavendish said. “Winning again here this day is very sentimental for me.”

Victoria’s Ryder Hesjedal, who rides for Garmin-Cervelo, stumbled with a 101st finish. He is 48th overall and trails Hushovd by four minutes 28 seconds.

Britain’s Team Sky suffered a cruel reversal of fortune, losing their leader and main contender. Wiggins went down along with a few dozen other riders, 38 kilometres from the finish. Only 24 hours earlier Wiggins and his Sky teammates were celebrating Norwegian Boasson Hagen’s stage victory, the team’s first ever

The 31-year-old Wiggins had made a bright begin to the race, helping his Sky team finish third in Sunday’s team time trial. He was in sixth place overall heading into stage 7.

Wiggins completed fourth in the 2009 Tour, his ideal ever finish, and had won the pre-Tour Dauphine Libere stage race to further boost his confidence heading into the Tour.

Veteran American rider Christopher Horner was also caught as several riders went down in the crash, but the 39-year-old RadioShack rider was able to continue.

Sprint ace Tyler Farrar, winner of Monday’s third stage, also went down but the Garmin-Cervelo rider seemed unharmed as he clambered back on to his saddle moments later and sped off.

The first week of the Tour has seen several crashes, with three-time defending champion Alberto Contador of Spain fortunate to escape with minor cuts and bruises after crashing on Wednesday’s fifth stage.

More Source:

Wiggins Out Of Tour De France | Cyclingnews.com
Bradley Wiggins out of Tour de France after crash on stage seven ...
Tour de France 2011: Bradley Wiggins out of Tour as Team Sky rider ...
TOUR DE FRANCE 2011: Bradley Wiggins to have surgery | Mail ...

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