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Andy Schleck out of the Tour de France through injury

By Cycling News

published 8 July 2014

Trek Factory rider fails to start stage 4

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Not a great day for Andy Schleck in the end(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

Gregory Rast and Andy Schleck (Trek Factory Racing)(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)

Fränk and Andy Schleck at the 2014 Trek team launch(Image credit: Photopress.be)

Andy Schleck (Trek Factory Racing) has been forced to abandon the Tour de France after the injuries he sustained in a crash on stage 3 ruled him out of starting Tuesday’s stage to Lille.

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Schleck also took to Twitter on Tuesday to confirm his abandonment. “Very disappointed to let you know that i will not be able to start. My knee is too damaged from the crash. This is a huge blow for me,” he wrote.

“This is a huge blow for me. I went on the rollers as soon as we arrived in Le Touquet, to get the muscles and tendons warmed up, but the pain is too much. I believed until that moment that I would start. I think I ignored the pain somehow, hiding it in the back of my head," he later said on the team's website.

Schleck will now head to Basle, Switzerland for further tests.

“Andy will undergo an MRI-scan of the knee and we will subsequently decide if an operation is necessary. He’s clearly in a lot of pain and starting would be a very bad idea. We tried all treatments that we have at our disposition in competition, but the injury is too severe to have him racing, " team doctor Andreas Gösele said.