Tour de France abandons: the full list of riders who have left the race

Any bike race is never just about the winners, and for the Tour de France that's particularly pertinent. Each year every top rider taking part tries to be in their very best condition for cycling’s high point of the stage racing season. But abandons, from illness or injury or poor condition, inevitably form part of each day’s narrative.

The early days of the race saw GC contenders leave the race through crashes and injuries as Enric Mas and Richard Carapaz abandoned. Then sprinters including Mark Cavendish, Caleb Ewan and Fabio Jakobsen headed home in the second week before stage 14 also took a heavy toll with many riders coming down in a big crash near the start of the stage. Then as the third week started, the list continued to expand, with more injury withdrawals and the climbs also taking a toll.

Here’s a full breakdown of the contenders who’ve abandoned this year’s Tour to date, updated each day through the race.

Stage 1

Enric Mas (Movistar) DNF

The first abandon of the 2023 Tour de France. He crashed on the descent of the cat.3 Alto de Vivero late on stage 1, breaking his right shoulder blade with cuts and abrasions. Twice fifth in the Tour, last year Mas also had to abandon the race with COVID-19. The 28-year-old is expected to race in the 2023 Vuelta a España, where he’s finished second overall three times, in 2018, 2021 and 2022.

Stage 2

Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) DNS

The second abandon of the 2023 Tour de France, after crashing alongside Enric Mas. Carapaz continued but crossed the line over 15 minutes down on winner Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates). 

A former Giro d’Italia winner and Tour de France and Vuelta a España podium finisher, the Ecuadorian could barely walk at the finish and was later diagnosed to have slightly fractured his left kneecap.

Carapaz, 30, was a DNS on stage 2.

Stage 5

Luis Léon Sánchez (Astana-Qazaqstan) DNS

It was a crash marred finale on stage 4 and while Luis Léon Sánchez was officially marked down as a finisher, the writing was on the wall when the rider was transported to hospital following the fall with 1km to go. His Astana-Qazaqstan team then confirmed in a statement later that evening that he wouldn’t start stage 5 as he had broken his left collarbone. “Tomorrow he goes home to Spain where he will undergo an operation,” added the team. 

The departure of the experienced Sánchez, who was riding his 12th Tour de France, will be a loss to Mark Cavendish as he chases his 35th career stage win at the Tour de France. However, he isn’t the only sprinter who is grappling with a depletion of his support squad because of stage 4’s tumbles.

Jacopo Guarnieri (Lotto-Dstny) DNS  

Caleb Ewan was already feeling the absence of Jasper De Buyst after his key lead-out man crashed on the second stage, and while De Buyst is still in the race he has needed some recovery time so wasn’t able to slot into his lead-out role in the stage 3 and 4 sprints. That made Jacopo Guarnieri more crucial than ever, however he hit the road hard in a crash at 1.8km to go that also included Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep), who was left battered, bruised and with a bike in three pieces but able to continue.

Guarnieri was, like Sánchez, marked as a finisher on the stage 4 results as the crash came in the final stages of the race but just like his Spanish rival the rider was left with race ending injuries that means he will not start stage 5.

“Apart from a fractured collarbone, Jacopo has also incurred three minor rib fractures and lots of abrasions," said Lotto-Dstny in a statement.

It’s a blow for the team's sprint hopes though fortunately Ewan, who came third in stage 3 and second in stage 4, is adept at surfing the wheels of his rivals.

Stage 8

Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) DNF

Mark Cavendish's quest for his 35th Tour de France stage win was one of the key narratives in the 2023 Tour de France. A focal point of international coverage, and tipped as the subject of Netflix's next series of the Tour of France: Unchained.

Cavendish's untimely departure from the race came on stage 8 when a clash of wheels saw a handful of riders go down. Of all of those who crashed, Cavendish was visibly the most hurt of the group - clutching his collarbone.

He was loaded into an ambulance, and his departure from the Tour was confirmed by race organisers and his team minutes later, accompanied by images of a dejected Cavendish sitting in an ambulance seat.

Astana Qazaqstan later confirmed his departure on social media and then confirmation of his injuries including a fractured right collarbone.

It marks the end of a stunning career at the Tour de France, equalling Eddy Merckx's record of the most stage wins at the race.

Steff Cras (TotalEnergies) DNF

With headlines so focussed on Mark Cavendish, it could have been easy to miss that Steff Cras was also forced to abandon the race on account of a crash.

Cras went down alongside Simon Yates, in a crash that led to the Jayco-AlUla rider losing 47 seconds in the general classification. The crash took place just within the final 5km, with broadcast images showing Cras' bike at the roadside and the young Belgian rider unable to remount and continue.

Cras, too, had been in contention in the general classification order, albeit for a top-10 position rather than the podium. He was TotalEnergies' highest-placed rider in the general classification at 13th overall.

TotalEnergies confirmed his abandonment on Twitter and confirmed that he suffers from multiple bruises on his elbow and hip, but did not sustain any fractures.

Stage 9

Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) DNS

US national road race champion Quinn Simmons departed from the Tour de France briefly before the start of stage 9.

“Since his heavy crash on stage 5 Quinn’s condition has not improved as we had hoped,” a statement from Lidl-Trek read on Sunday morning. “He still feels stiffness and fatigue so we have decided to stop him to focus on his recovery."

Simmons was set to ride in support of Mads Pedersen on the Tour’s sprint stages, helping deliver Pedersen to victory on stage 8, while protecting Lidl-Trek’s GC ambitions with Mattias Skjelmose and Giulio Ciccone. 

However, with Skjelmose being Lidl-Trek’s highest-placed GC contender in 19th place at a margin of 8:47 to the yellow jersey, Simmons would likely have been given a free lease to pursue individual stage wins on the Tour’s more hilly stages.

Having stated ahead of the race, “If I leave without a stage win then the Tour is a disappointment for me personally," the departure so early in the race is no doubt a big disappointment for the US rider.

Stage 12

Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) DNS

European Champion Fabio Jakobsen abandoned the Tour de France on the morning of stage 12 after initially crashing at high speed on stage 4. 

Jakobsen soldiered on and fought against the time cut on numerous occasions to try to recover and refind his form, however, he withdrew after being unable to challenge in any of the subsequent bunch sprints.

“Due to my stage four crash, and after discussions with the team, we decided it’s better for me to stop my Tour de France journey here," Jakobsen said in the team's press release. "At this point it seems impossible for me to get to Paris, as I am not recovering, and my body is not healing from the crash.”

Jakobsen was the team's main focus alongside Julian Alaphilippe and the duo were meant to challenge for stage wins, but after 11 days of racing the Belgian side had no success and may miss out on a stage win for the first time since 2012 with their sprinter out of the race.

He is also set to leave the team in 2024, making this his last appearance at the Tour for Soudal-QuickStep and with his win tally at only one stage from 2022, he'll certainly want more once he returns to the Tour with a new team.

David de la Cruz (Astana) DNF

After a heavy crash midway through stage 12, the Astana team were down to five as David de la Cruz was forced out of the race due to multiple injuries.

The Spaniard was transported to the hospital of Roanne where exams found no fractures. However, he had contusions on his right elbow, right shoulder and left hip as well as multiple skin abrasions all over the body. The elbow wounds were bad enough to require stitches.

Stage 13

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Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) DNF

The Australian ended his struggles on stage 13 of the Tour de France, dropping out of the race before having to fight his way to the top of the Grand Colombier.

The 29--year-old had already struggled through on a particularly aggressively-raced stage 12 and had to fight to make the time cut with only teammate Jasper De Buyst for company.

Then on stage 13 he was seen clutching his stomach as he labored behind the peloton, with Ewan finally pulling the plug with 20km to go on the stage. He left the race with two top-three finishes on stages 3 and 4, with Ewan finding his way to the podium steps despite key leadout riders being hit by early race injuries.

Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) DNF

The British rider making his Tour debut was also distanced on stage 13 and then abandoned after being ill on Friday morning.  

Stage 14

A series of crashes on the Alpine stage to Morzine saw the 2023 Tour suffer its biggest day of losses yet. In the early kilometres of the stage, a mass pile-up in the peloton saw the race start neutralised and a pause for 29 minutes, with around 20 riders hitting the deck and then a crash on the descent off the day's first climb took a further toll.

Antonio Pedrero (Movistar) DNF

Part of the opening crash Pedrero was stretchered away from the race with a later medical report from the team saying he had fractured three ribs and his right posterior arch. "He has been discharged from the hospital and will receive follow-up from the team's medical services" said Movistar in a medical report.

Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) DNF

Before the stage Meintjes was 13th overall, but with the early crash his team lost their GC leader and hopes of a top ten overall. The South African rider was hit from behind and fell, breaking his collarbone. As a result all Intermarché-Circus-Wanty's focus will now turn to chasing a stage win.

Esteban Chaves (EF Education-EasyPost) DNF

The Colombian rider soldiered on after the restart but with an injury to his sternoclavicular joint, stopped shortly after due to his injuries. “This [race] is the dream. And today the dream hurts,” Chaves, who came fifth on stage 10, said in a team statement.

Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich) DNF

The French GC leader who was in 12th at the start of the stage and already hadn't been having the best of weeks, suffering from a bronchial infection earlier. Then things got far worse on stage 14 when he fell on a fast, sweeping descent off the opening climb of the day, the third-category Col de Saxel. The rider was forced to abandon with what Team dsm-firmenich later confirmed was multiple skin abrasions on his hip and shoulder and a concussion.

James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost) DNF 

The 27 year old's impressive Tour de France debut was also cut short on the descent of Col de Saxel, with a concussion as a result of the crash. The team said CT scans and X-rays showed no sign of further injuries. EF Education-EasyPost is now down three riders, given Chaves was caught up in the crash at the start and Richard Carapaz did not start stage 2 after the opening stage crash.

Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar) DNF

The second Movistar abandon on stage 14, Guerreiro, leaves the team as one of the most depleted in the peloton alongside EF Education-Easypost. Given they already had the early departure of the team's GC leader Enric Mas, just five riders now remain for the Spanish squad.

Ramon Sinkeldam (Alpecin-Deceuninck) DNF

The climbs also took another toll on stage 14 with Sinkeldam isolated after losing touch with grupetto early. "I am very disappointed that at this moment I don't have the level to survive the mountain stages. This was not how I wanted to leave the Tour," said Sinkledam in a Twitter post from Alpecin-Deceuninck.

Stage 15

Dani Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers) DNS

Following evaluation by the team doctor after stage 14, the Colombian was a non-starter on stage 15 and put into the UCI concussion protocol with the team saying "symptoms of concussion were detected".

Stage 16

Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), DNS

Movistar’s difficult Tour de France has continued into the third week of the race as the team announced Tuesday morning that Matteo Jorgenson would be a DNS for stage 16 after tearing his thigh muscle.

Stage 17

Alexis Renard (Cofidis), DNS

Alexis Renard (Cofidis) had a tough time trial on stage 16, crashing on the treacherous opening corner of the course, where a handful of others also went down in the opening hours of the time trial. 

While Renard managed to finish the stage, Vingegaard's blistering performance pushed him one second outside of the time cut.

Whether he would have been allowed to proceed given the small margin wasn't clear, but a broken elbow from his fall sadly meant that the Frenchman's Tour was over. 

The team confirmed the abandon on social media, "Unfortunately, Alexis Renard will not start again tomorrow. Following his fall at the start of the stage, our Breton rider suffered a fractured right elbow."

Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), DNF

As Phil Bauhaus' climb savvy teammates were pushing the pace up in the break on the brutal queen stage, he was slipping out the back on a course and day that left even Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) suffering. Ultimately the rider abandoned, adding another casualty to the climbs from the ranks of the sprinters.

“It’s hard to take, I tried my best, and I really put effort to make the time cuts over the past few stages," said Bauhaus in a media statement. "Today I was empty, it was full gas from the start, and I was alone. I tried, but as the time gap widened, catching the grupetto and making the time cut would be impossible.

"It’s sad not to make it to Paris, celebrate this with my teammates, and finish the Tour de France as a rider. It’s been a crazy Tour and full gas from the start on nearly every stage. I can leave knowing I tried my best to give everything, and today was just a step too far."

Stage 18

Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), DNS

Jumbo-Visma lost the valuable Wout van Aert from the squad on stage 18. The rider walked away without finding that tenth Tour de France stage victory of his career, but still with four podiums and his team leader Jonas Vingegaard well ensconced in the yellow jersey. The Belgian left the race due to the imminent arrival of his second child.

Simon Geschke (Cofidis)

German Simon Geschke was the last man to finish stage 17 after struggling with a stomach bug. He came to the line with the broom wagon on his tail, 44:56 behind stage winner Felix Gall in Courchevel.

It was no surprise that when Geschke lost touch with the peloton with 73km remaining on stage 18, he pulled over to climb into the team car. 

Stage 20

Victor Lafay (Cofidis)

Victor Lafay, who gave Cofidis their first win at the Tour since 2008 on stage 2, was forced to abandon on the penultimate stage due to injuries following a crash.

According to his team, the Frenchman has superficial abrasions all over his body. He received sutures to his face, right elbow and left knee, and also suffers from a mild concussion.