Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo) has bid an early adieu at his final Tour de France following stage 17 in order to focus on the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. According to a team press release, it was a tough decision to leave the Tour early but one that was made jointly between Cancellara and team management.
"This was not an easy decision to take, but I feel it is the right one. I don’t like withdrawing from a race, especially not when our GC leader is in second place at four days from Paris," Cancellara said. "With some really hard stages ahead of us my support would naturally be more limited so we took the decision together to withdraw. It was a hard Tour for me: a lot of stress and I feel tired. If I want to be good at the Olympics I need rest."
Trek-Segafredo's Bauke Mollema is currently sitting in second overall 2:27 behind yellow jersey Chris Froome (Team Sky). The Tour entered the first day of the Alps on Thursday with a challenging 184.5km stage from Berne to the summit finish at Finhaut-Emosson.
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Mollema showed signs of struggle on the steep slopes of the climb and finished the day 18th, among a select group of GC contenders that finished behind the day's breakaway, but he lost 40 seconds to Froome. There are still three more stages in the Alps that finish at Megève, Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc and Morzine, before the celebration stage to Paris on Sunday. Team management agreed that Cancellara's focus would be better spent on recovering in time for the time trial in Rio.
"Fabian has ridden a tremendous Tour de France," reiterated the team's General Manager Luca Guercilena. "He was our designated road captain and in this capacity led the team through 17 stages in a very composed way. Bauke Mollema is currently in second place overall - in part through strong teamwork by the whole team.
Tour de France stage 17 highlights video
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