Groenewegen pulls out of Tour de France

L’ALPE D’HUEZ, France: Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen became the latest sprint star to fall victim to the gruelling Alpine stages of the Tour de France cycling race after pulling out on stage 12 Thursday.

“A two-time stage winner in the opening week, Groenewegen has just abandoned,” said a brief statement by race organisers.The Lotto-Jumbo rider, who claimed his maiden stage win last year with a famous victory on the Champs Elysees, was competing in his third Tour de France.

The 25-year-old from Amsterdam began his campaign in style, winning stages seven and eight.But a struggling Groenewegen was forced to call it a day before the halfway stage of the torturous 175.5km stage between Bourg Saint Maurice and Alpe d’Huez.

On Wednesday, British sprint star Mark Cavendish and his Australian team-mate at Dimension Data, Mark Renshaw, as well as Katusha star Marcel Kittel — all sprinters — were eliminated after failing to make the time cut.

Kittel, a 14-time stage winner, and Renshaw both finished just under 45 minutes behind stage 11 winner Geraint Thomas of Team Sky.Cavendish, a 30-time stage winner who had been chasing Eddy Merckx’s record tally of 34 wins, crossed the line 1hr 05min 33sec behind compatriot Thomas.

The Tour de France hopes of Frenchman Romain Bardet suffered another setback after AG2R team-mate Tony Gallopin pulled out during the gruelling 12th stage.Bardet, who finished runner-up to Chris Froome in 2016 and in third place last year when the Briton took his fourth crown, saw his yellow jersey ambitions dented when team-mate Alexis Vuillermoz pulled out due to injury on Sunday and Axel Domont abandoned last week.

A short statement by Tour organisers said: “Tony Gallopin is the third AG2R-La Mondiale rider to pull out of the Tour de France after Axel Domont (stage 4) and Alexis Vuillermoz (stage 9).”