The Tour’s an Open Race
Contador becomes the second prerace favorite to exit
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Alberto Contador has dropped out of the Tour de France after sustaining a fractured tibia on this morning’s mountainous stage 10.
The Tinkoff-Saxo cyclist crashed in advance of the the Col du Platzerwasel, the third of six climbs in the Bastille Day stage. He received treatment from race doctors and got back in the saddle, but the injury put him four minutes behind the Vincenzo Nibali–led peloton and nine minutes behind the breakaway.
Contador began the race today in ninth place but dropped out with just shy of 50 miles left in the 100.4-mile stage. Contador’s exit marks the second upset of prerace favorites, following defending champion Chris Froome’s set of crashes on stage five that forced him to leave the race—the third big surprise, if you count Mark Cavendish crashing out of the race on day one.