Luck runs out for Dutchman after crashing out on stage 17
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Kenny Van Hummel(Image credit: Bert Geerts/dcp-bertgeerts@xs4all.nl)
Danilo Napolitano (Team Katusha) and Kenny van Hummel (Skil-Shimano) climb to Andorra Arcalis on stage 7, finishing just inside the time cut.(Image credit: Sirotti)
A bit of romanticism left the Tour de France on Wednesday when Kenny van Hummel, the race’s lanterne rouge, was forced to abandon after crashing out of the race.
The Skil-Shimano rider, who was sitting 3:35:54 behind the yellow jersey at the start of the stage, was dropped just four kilometres into today’s 169.5 kilometre test from Bourg Saint Maurice to Le Grand Bornand. He was forced to ride alone and crashed on the decent of the day's second category 1 climb, the Col des Saises. The 26-year-old was taken to hospital with a badly cut knee.
Van Hummel had previously admitted to taking risks on the race’s descents in order to keep within the time limit but with today’s rain-soaked roads, he was playing a dangerous game. "I saw Menchov crash on a downhill and told the car following Kenny to be careful because it was really slippery. When he went down and we saw that his knee was open we knew that his race was over."
Van Hummel though will go down as one of the most iconic and likeable riders in this year’s race, often surviving stages by the skin of his teeth and riding hundreds of kilometres on his own. "I was thinking four days ago that it was his last day. He's a real fighter but he’s not a climber. He had no power left."
Yauheni Hutarovich (Française des Jeux) will start tomorrow’s stage as the new lanterne rouge. The Belarusian is 3:26:01 down on race leader Alberto Contador.
For images of stage 17 click here
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
