Barloworld down to 4 riders
2008-07-17 16:01
Puivert, France - Australian Baden Cooke became the fifth rider from the Barloworld team to pull out of the Tour de France here on Thursday.
Cooke got off his bike after just 25km of the race's 12th stage, according to official race radio. He had crashed earlier in the stage but had managed to continue.
The British-registered outfit are now down to just four riders.
They lost Colombian Felix Cardenas and Italian Paolo Longo on Wednesday's 11th stage.
Longo sustained a fractured collarbone in a crash which left him in a ditch at the side of the road near the 50km mark.
Colombian climber Mauricio Soler - the reigning King of the Mountains - pulled out earlier in the race due to a fractured wrist.
On Wednesday, Spaniard Moises Duenas was kicked off the Tour by his team following a positive test for the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin).
Cardenas is a former stage winner on the Tour de France and the Tour of Spain.
- SAPA