World time trial champion, Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), has abandoned the Tour de France.
The German fractured a scaphoid bone in his hand on stage one of the race, but continued through eight subsequent stages.
Martin, who had recently returned to racing after being knocked off his bike while training near his home in Switzerland in April, said his descision to leave the Tour had been difficult.
“It’s the right thing to do now, and I know that even the guys will understand. I will go home and I will try to recover as much as I can. I don’t want things to get even worse going into the mountains. I cannot imagine sitting in the back of the peloton suffering every day a little bit more as I did during this week.
“I really tried, I put a lot of energy together with the team to arrive until today, but now it’s time to think about my complete recovery,” he said.
Martin’s bad luck at the Tour began during the prologue time trial, a stage he had started among the favourites for victory, but which was blighted by a mechanical issue.
His fall on stage one, one of several accidents in the opening week of the race, left him with a fractured scaphoid: a small bone between thumb and forearm.
Team doctor, Helge Riepenhof, said: “Tony’s impressive performance in the last days, going through all the pain and still fighting to be able to compete in the individual TT, shows what kind of character he has, but from the medical point of view, it is now time to give the scaphoid fracture a chance to heal.”
Martin will now target the Olympic time trial. “I have still three weeks before the Olympics,” he said.
“I know that it won’t be easy, but I will do all my best to be in good shape for the Olympics.”
A fully fit Martin would start among the favourites for the gold medal. His victory in last year’s world time trial championships came at the expense of Bradley Wiggins, who was runner up, and Fabian Cancellara, who finished third.
