Steven Kruijswijk abandoned the Tour de France after 30 kilometres of stage 17 to Saint-Lary-Soulan, leaving Jumbo-Visma with just four riders as they try to defend Jonas Vingegaard’s third place overall.
Kruijswijk climbed off after a fast start on the flat roads towards the Pyrenees, with Jumbo-Visma soon announcing that he started to feel ill during the rest day and had not recovered.
The team said he will now focus on the Vuelta a España, where he will line up alongside the USA’s Sepp Kuss and possibly Primož Roglič if he recovers from the crash injuries that lead him to abandon the Tour de France before stage 9.
Tour de France leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Giro d’Italia winner Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) are also expected to target the Vuelta a España.
The loss of Kruijswijk follows earlier abandons of Roglič, Robert Gesink, and Tony Martin, and leaves Jumbo-Visma with just Wout van Aert, Sepp Kuss, Mike Teunissen and Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour de France.
Vingegaard is third overall, 5:32 down on Pogačar but is locked in a battle for the final podium places in Paris with Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-Nippo), Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën) and Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe).
Kruijswijk is the 40th rider to abandon, crash out or fail to make the time cut in this year’s Tour de France, leaving 144 riders still in the race, with five stages left to race.
