Lorient: Australian Michael Matthews was a shock withdrawal from the Tour de France shortly before Wednesdays fifth stage after being struck down by a fever.
"I'm really disappointed to not start this morning," Matthews said. "I've been really ill this morning and tried all I could to make it to the start line, but feeling like this, it's simply not possible. I will now go home to recover and will continue cheering for the guys from there."
Shock: Australia's Michael Matthews has withdrawn from the Tour De France due to illness.
Photo: AP
Last years green point jersey winner woke up on Wednesday morning feeling sick, and was soon vomiting. The Canberrans condition worsened right up until his Team Sunweb management made the decision to pull him from the Tour after arriving at Lorient for the 204.5km stage to Quimper in Brittany.
Advertisement
"He woke up early this morning feeling a bit ill," Team Sunwebs head sports director Luke Roberts said shortly after he made the call in consultation with the teams doctor and Matthews. "He has got a bit of a fever and he wont be well enough to start today. So we have made a decision to take him out of the race.
"Early this morning he woke up vomiting and he is still going downhill, so its unrealistic that he can finish today's stage."
Roberts said while Matthews travelled to the stage start, he did so in the team doctors car: "The doctor has been with him all morning. We tried to isolate him a bit from the other riders in case it is a virus.
"He travelled with the doctor in the car on the way out and we saw [his condition] was still going downhill … [and saw that] before the start it wont be getting any better.
"Mate, he is not in a condition to be able to finish."
Matthews sudden exit was a major blow considering he was considered a winning chance for Wednesdays stage and Thursdays 181km sixth stage from Brest to Mûr de Bretagne in Brittany.
"Its early on in the Tour de France and it was a very good opportunity today for him to pick up a result as tomorrow would be – two big highlights for him in this Tour," Roberts said.
Roberts said that Matthews was also going to play an important role in helping the teams Dutch leader, Tom Dumoulin in the mountains.
Dumoulin, last years Giro dItalia winner and runner-up in the Italian tour this year, is one of the major favourites in this years Tour.
Matthews showed his climbing prowess in last years Tour when he went in breakaways in the mountains to chase green jersey points.
While the green jersey was not Matthews goal this year, it was felt that he could still employ the same tactic this year to position himself up the road in readiness to offer Dumoulin assistance when the Dutchman and the other overall contenders caught them.
"One of Michaels qualities is that he can climb," Roberts said. "He can get in the early breaks in the mountains stages and could have brought extra value there. We will miss him."
Most Viewed in Sport
Morning & Afternoon Newsletter
Delivered Mon–Fri.
