US and Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly) and top sprinter Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) have abandoned the Tour de France Femmes, with several crashes marring the opening 100km of stage 5.
Faulkner has battled through bad luck throughout the race, affected by illness in the run-in, and crashing twice during the first four stages, determined to help her teammates.
She crashed for a third time during the neutralised roll-out from Chasseneuil-du-Poitou, according to the official race centre, and abandoned two hours later, with the adversity taking its toll.
"Kristen Faulkner abandoned the Tour de France Femmes after battling fatigue since the start of the race," read a post from EF on X.
"She gave everything to support her teammates, but will now return home to focus on rest and recovery. Wishing you all the best, champ."
The fifth stage has taken several victims, with others hitting the deck despite being able to continue, such as green jersey Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) and Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike) – who will serve as Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's key mountain domestique.
Balsamo is also a high-profile faller, though, and was involved in a different early crash on the stage and was forced to abandon after her second crash of the race. Lidl-Trek confirmed this, with a medical update to follow in the evening.
She abandoned at the same time as Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Eugenia Bujak (Cofidis Women Team), who were also involved in the big crash in the first 40km of racing.
Uno-X Mobility have also experienced a nightmare day amid all the crashes on stage 5, losing both Katrine Aalerud and Maria Giulia Confalonieri.
With so much talk of riders' respect and the tension of the Tour de France Femmes, the multitude of crashes on Wednesday have been highlighted further on stage 5. However, the vast majority of the crashes can be put down to racing incidents.
Top GC favourite Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) has already been down at high speed during this year's edition, which has led to a spat unfolding between her team manager, Stephen Delcourt, and Visma DS Jos van Emden, after the former criticised rider behaviour in the peloton.
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