Dillon Corkery, above, and Ben Healy have abandoned Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and so will not be part of the final weekend of racing (Photo: Xavier Pereyron)
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Dillon Corkery (Picnic PostNL) have both abandoned Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (2.UWT), thus ending Irish interest in the race for the final weekend.
The stage 7 route today, Saturday, to the summit of Grand Colombier, and tomorrow's summit finish at Plateau de Solaison-Brison, look like the hardest stages of the race.
However, before the start this morning a large number of riders pulled out, clearly thinking of other objectives and not wanting to empty the tank over the weekend, especially if they felt there was little in for them. Others were nursing crash injuries.
A total of 13 riders did not take to the start line today, including Healy and Corkery. The reasons the Irish riders exited were not clear at the time of writing, but we will bring you updates when we have more information.
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Healy had started the race after a two-month absence from competing following a crash during a TT recon ride at Itzulia Basque Country (2.UWT). He suffered a non-displaced sacral fracture.
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However, he said at the start of the week he was quickly back on his bike after that crash injury lay-off and did not feel he missed much preparation as he builds towards the Tour.
He added he was hopeful of trying to get into the breakaways in the latter stages of this race, though he has now exited early instead.
Corkery has also had his own issues this year, in the shape of a bulging disc in his back. He returned in time for Paris-Roubaix and put up a very strong showing there.
In light of that injury, and missing much of the early season, he simply may not have fancied the weekend of racing on such hilly terrain. However, we will bring you more later when we know for sure.
Another abandoning the race before the start today was Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos). He crashed yesterday after overshooting a bend and dropping down into a ravine. While he finished the stage, he has now been forced out.
"I think it was a left-hander, and he just overshot slightly, and went down a bit of a drop into a ravine, so at least he was okay. It could have been a lot worse," said Geraint Thomas, Netcompany Ineos director of racing.
"Dislocated shoulder and bit of a chunk out of his knee, but he's off for some scans today, and hopefully he'll be feeling good."
