The 2nd Pyrenees stage with arrival in Laruns was too much for Steff Cras. The Tour debutant ended up at the back of the peloton early in the 9th stage and just before the top of the Marie-Blanque, he gave up.
“I had problems with my back from the start,” says Cras. “Actually, that has been since my crash in the opening stage in Nice, but every day I continued racing. Every day I pull myself a bit skewed in the race, but actually that was not so bad in the past few days because there was not really hard racing yet. “
“That real climbing happened right from the first climb today and I felt that I hardly had any strength in my legs. I couldn’t even pedal 200 watts. And then you know that it will be a long day.”
“I tried to do everything I could to arrive on time, but in the end I felt that it was going to be difficult. The legs were willing, but the back did not want to come and I had no strength. That is a shame. “
“I had imagined my first Tour differently. It was amazing, I did my best for as long as possible, but this way I can’t continue racing. I have to fully recover before I can race again.”
For Lotto-Soudal it is a new downer. In the opening stage, the Belgian team already lost Philippe Gilbert and John Degenkolb after crashes. Degenkolb finished just outside the time limit and Gilbert was unable to start in the 2nd stage due to a broken kneecap.
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