Fabio Aru was left to take a feed from staff in the Tour de France broom wagon after he was left back the road with no team car for support when he was dropped very early today.
News broke later in the day that he had abandoned the race; a sad end to this year's edition for him.
The Italian's UAE Team Emirates team cars were nowhere to be seen when Aru went out on the back very early on the 153km stage from Pau to Laruns.
Aru waved the TV motorbike away angrily as it continued to focus on him going out the back. And when the TV cameras lingered on him the broom wagon and emergency vehicles at the very back of the Tour cavalcade were the only vehicles just behind Aru; none of his team cars in sight.
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Very unusually, it seemed he was left behind today by his team and was even seen on TV taking a gel from a crew member in the broom wagon only about an hour into the stage.
The pace was relentless at the start of the day as a breakaway tried to form with non-stop attacks for the first hour of racing. Aru very quickly found himself in trouble, being dropped by a long way.
He was six minutes down on his own with well over 100km remaining on the stage and before any of the climbs of the day had been reached, though news later emerged he had abandoned.
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Aru underwent surgery a couple of years ago for an iliac artery issue and has never regained his form.
The 30-year-old won the Vuelta in 2015 and has also taken six Grand Tour stages during his career, though has been a shadow of his former self in the last few seasons.
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