Andy Schleck's Criterium du Dauphine has gone from bad to worse, and the RadioShack-Nissan captain threw in the towel on Saturday's sixth stage, abandoning the race. He had come into the penultimate stage in 129th place, over 29 minutes behind race leader Bradley Wiggins.

Schleck had not performed well in any stage, but his worst stage was the fifth, when he lost nearly 14 minutes. He explained his early poor performance was due to knee problems which cost him a week's training in May.

He then crashed heavily in Thursday's windy time trial, and suffered a heavy blow to his right aide and ribcage, as well as severe road rash. After Friday's stage, he declared his intentions to continue in the race, saying, “I’ve abandoned too many times this year already.”