Tour de France 2021 - Marc Soler out of Tour with three fractures suffered in Stage 1 crash

ByEurosport

Updated 27/06/2021 at 12:04 GMT

Marc Soler has pulled out of the Tour de France after fracturing both his arms in the awful Stage 1 crash. He somehow managed to get back onto his bike and finish the stage on Saturday, but he has now withdrawn from the Tour having now been checked over at hospital. Chris Froome started Stage 2 despite also being involved in heavy crash less than 10 kilometres before the finish line.

Movistar Team's Marc Soler has pulled out of the Tour de France after suffering fractures in both his arms.

Soler somehow managed to continue racing after suffering the injuries in a nasty crash on the opening day when a spectator got in the way of the peloton when holding up a sign.

The Spaniard suffered acute pain in his right wrist and was left unable to properly steer his bike, but did still finish the stage almost half an hour behind eventual winner Julian Alaphilippe.

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He was taken to hospital afterwards and has now been ruled out of the Tour.

"It was such a difficult day," teammate Enric Mas said afterwards.

"The first stage of the Tour is always about avoiding crashes, with lots of stress. In my case, I always kept a good position with help from Iván, Imanol, Jorge… the whole team really helped.

"I was one of the last few riders able to get past the first crash, with Miguel Ángel [Lopez] and Marc, right behind me, then involved.

"It’s so awful, it was such bad luck – I hope both Marc, who seems to be suffering a lot with his wrist, and Miguel Ángel can recover time and energy.

The Tour will carry on, it’s still 20 days left and it will be really hard for everybody.

Cyril Lemoine (B&B Hotels p/b KTM) DNF following the awful Stage 1 crash

Image credit: Getty Images

Cyril Lemoine (B&B Hotels p/b KTM), Jasha Sutterlin (Team DSM) and Ignatas Konovalovas (Groupama - FDJ) all did not finish the first stage so are also out.

Four-time Tour de France Chris Froome started Stage 2 after suffering swelling and bruising from the big crash seven kilometres from the end of Stage 1.

"I'll try to get through today," the 36-year-old said.

"Just survive today's stage and hope that over the coming days it starts to feel better."

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