South Africa’s Robbie Hunter succumbed to the pain of a fractured arm and pulled out of the Tour de France on Thursday.
Garmin-Transitions rider Hunter suffered the injury in a crash on the 10th stage and despite being diagnosed with a fracture near his right elbow he was keen to start the 11th stage from Sisteron to Bourg-les-Valence.
Hunter, however, did not turn up at the start line — leaving his team short of one of their key elements for the sprint train of American Tyler Farrar.
Farrar came into the race as the number one rival to Britain’s Mark Cavendish, but has so far failed to win having picked up a wrist fracture during the crash-marred second stage.
Cavendish has won two stages so far, the same as Italian rival Alessandro Petacchi.