Volkswacht Bodensee - More misery for Ineos as Rodriguez quits Tour with broken pelvis

In 10th position going into the rainy flat stage the Spanish climb specialist became entangled in a spectacular pile-up of flying bikes and bodies on the home straight at Valence on Wednesday.

"Carlos is in good spirits and remains under the close supervision of our medical team. He will now return home to focus on recovery," Ineos said.

Rodriguez, 24, would have been an outside contender for a stage win in the Alps over the next two days of daunting climbing to Col de La Loze, and La Plagne.

Ineos lost former time trial world champion Filippo Ganna to concussion on stage 1 at Lille.

The team did however score a prestige stage win when Dutch rider Thymen Arensman climbed to a solo triumph on the Tourmalet mountain in the Pyrenees on Saturday.

The once-mighty British team, formerly known as Team SKY, won the Tour de France seven times between 2012-2019, but have been in a relative lull in recent years.

T.Germann--VB