Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar has lost another rider from his UAE Team Emirates line-up after Marc Soler struggled on today's stage 16 and finished outside the time cut.
Soler could be seen throwing up today during the stage - once again raced in intense heat. He struggled on to the finish, on his own and last man on the road, in the hope he may be able to continue and recover in the race.
However, at the finish in Foix he was 57:06 down on stage winner Hugo Houle (Israel Premier Tech) and 26 minutes down on the groupetto, on a day when the time cut was 42:12. It means Spanish rider Soler, brought into UAE Team Emirates from Movistar to bolster Pogačar's support in the mountains, is now out of the race.
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He is the third rider from the team to be forced out of the race as both Vegard Stake Laengen and George Bennett have already abandoned after contracting Covid-19.
While Rafal Majka also tested positive for Covid-19, he has been able to remain on the race because his viral load was deemed low enough to be non-contagious. So far, Majka and Brandon McNulty have ridden very strongly for Pogačar.
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💥🥵🙌🏼 @solermarc93 acaba de llegar a meta ovacionado tras encontrarse enfermo y transitar solo casi durante todo el día
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
📽 @qiglesias #TdF2022 #TourEnCOPE pic.twitter.com/yeuFDKMZim— COPEdaleando (@Copedaleando) July 19, 2022
However, Marc Hirschi - who was drafted into the UAE Team Emirates line-up for the Tour very late - has been struggling while Mikkel Bjerg remains in the Tour doing all he can for the team.
The loss of Soler from UAE Team Emirates today somewhat eases the worries of race leader Jonas Vingegaard's Jumbo Visma, which has itself been weakened in recent days.
The team decided on Sunday morning that Primož Roglič would not start the stage as he was suffering from injuries sustained in his stage 5 crash, when he dislocated his shoulder before popping it back in.
During Sunday's stage, Steven Kruijswijk - a key climber for Vingegaard - crashed out of the race with a dislocated shoulder. Just a few kilometres after that incident, Vingegaard and Tiesj Benoot both crashed in the same fall. While the race leader looks like he has shook off that crash, Benoot came down much harder and how he performs on the hard stages to come remains to be seen.
