CHALON-SUR-SAONE, France (AP) -- American Tejay Van Garderen withdrew from the Tour de France after hitting the tarmac soon after the start of Friday’s Stage 7.
Van Garderen was attended by three of his teammates and eventually got back on his bike to finish with a bloodied face and ripped jersey. But he broke a bone in his left hand and his team later announced his withdrawal.
The top American rider in the race, van Garderen was 36th overall, 10 minutes and 26 seconds behind leader Giulio Ciccone.
“We will miss having him in the team,” EF Education First manager Jonathan Vaughters said. “He has showed great form coming into the race. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope that he’ll be back racing again soon.”
Van Garderen, 30, finished fifth at the Tour de France in 2012 and 2014, taking the white jersey as the highest-ranking rider younger than 26.
In 2015 and 2018, van Garderen was at one point during the Tour second overall, just missing becoming the second American to enter the history books as a Tour de France leader, along with the only American to win the Tour, three-time champion Greg LeMond, who last wore yellow in 1991.
Four other Americans wore the yellow jersey after LeMond, but all had their results retroactively stripped for doping (Lance Armstrong, David Zabriskie, George Hincapie and Floyd Landis).
There are three Americans left in this year’s Tour -- Joey Rosskopf, Chad Haga and Ben King.
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