Pinarello–Q36.5’s Chris Harper has withdrawn from the Tour de France after a crash on Tuesday’s stage 10 meant he lost part of his thumb.
The Australian crashed on the descent from the Puy Mary with around 25km to go on the stage to Le Lioran.
He fell on the same corner as his teammate Tom Pidcock, who complained about the “white shit” organisers had sprayed on the road to stop the tarmac from melting in the extreme heat. Visma-Lease a Bike’s Matteo Jorgenson was another rider who slipped out on the bend.
Pidcock eventually finished ninth on the day. But Harper came down the hardest of them all and was left clutching his left hand. He finished more than an hour behind Tadej Pogačar, who won the stage in indomitable fashion.
Harper underwent surgery in the evening and withdrew from the race.
“Pulling out of any bike race sucks but hurts a bit more to pull out of the biggest one of them all,” he wrote on Instagram.
“Thanks to the team for the support and fingers crossed for a quick recovery and back into some racing for the second part of the season.”
Harper then quipped about what the injury could do for his performance: “On a positive note think I’m now 10g lighter #marginalgains”.
We’ll let you click through to Harper’s Instagram post below to see the state of his thumb.
