Reports came in this morning that Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb), Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) and Axel Domont (Ag2R – La Mondiale) all abandoned the 2018 Tour de France overnight due to sickness or injury.
Sickness & Fever for Matthews
After falling ill early this morning, Team Sunweb’s Michael Matthews (AUS) is forced to abandon the Tour de France before its fifth stage, suffering from sickness and a high fever.
Matthews said: “I’m really disappointed to not start this morning. I’ve been really ill this morning and tried all I could to make it to the start line, but feeling like this, it’s simply not possible. I will now go home to recover and will continue cheering for the guys from there.”
Team Sunweb physician Mannes Naeff (NED) said: “Unfortunately Michael got sick this morning, he has been vomiting and as the morning progressed he has become more ill. We wanted to see how he would feel but with a high fever, we made the decision that it was just not possible for him to take to the start line this morning.”
Team Sunweb coach Tom Veelers (NED) said: “Michael was up early this morning being sick and was unable to keep any food down. At breakfast we tried to get some more nutrition into him, but again, he was unable to keep it down. Our doctor checked him just before the start and he had a fever, and for us this means that he cannot start. Michael is not only a strong guy in going for day results, but he’s also of huge value to the team on the difficult stages so it is a huge blow for us to lose him. Still, we will to continue to fight with seven guys and we wish Michael all the best in feeling better soon.”
Broken Collarbone for Domont
The victim of a crash 5 kilometers from the finish of the fourth stage, Axel Domont was forced to abandon the Tour.
Upon arriving at the finish, Domont was examined by the medical staff of the Tour de France, and then transferred to the hospital of Vannes to undergo additional examinations including an X-Ray.
“He is suffering from a fracture of the right collarbone. The X-Ray did not, however, detect a fracture to the skull nor the ribs,” Dr. Eric Bouvat, medical officer of the AG2R LA MONDIALE team, explained.
Domont’s Ag2r-La Mondiale teammate Romain Bardet told letour.fr this morning: “Axel Domont’s retirement is a big loss for our team. I went to see him last night at the hospital. He’s fine but it was frightening because he fell on his head. More than a team-mate, he’s a close friend. The best thing we can do for him is to race well. There’ll be a lot of tension today, and unfortunately some more crashes probably. We have to be careful.”
Benoot Beat Up in Crash
Young Belgian rider Tiesj Benoot of the Lotto Soudal team was forced to abandon after sustaining several injuries including a second degree dislocation of the AC joint in his right shoulder. Benoot also bruised some ribs, his right shoulder blade and left wrist, and suffered abrasions on his hips, back, arms and legs and cuts at his right eyebrow and the back of his head.
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