Defending champion Chris Froome has crashed out of the Tour de France after falling twice on a wet and treacherous stage five.
The second time, the 29-year-old was visibly injured and was seen shaking his head and holding his right arm before climbing into a Sky team car.
That signalled the end of his attempt to retain the yellow jersey he won in Paris last year.
The last time a reigning champion had been forced to abandon the Tour was in 1980 when Frenchman Bernard Hinault quit due to a knee injury, although that wasn’t from a crash.
Wednesday’s fifth stage topped off a nightmare two days for the Kenyan-born Briton, who also came off his bike on Tuesday’s fourth stage.
After his first fall, Froome was seen with ripped jersey and shorts down his right hand side, trying to fix a mechanical problem by the side of the road.
Blood and grazing could also be seen on his hip through a rip in his shorts.
The second time he went down, along with a teammate, Froome looked visibly distressed.
He stood by the side of the road holding his right arm across his body and making no attempt to get up and ride on.
When he started shaking his head, it was clear his race was over and he was soon bundled into the safety of a team car.
Incredibly, on a stage where the seven cobbled sections totalling 13km had been the major concern for riders, Froome crashed out before they even reached the first.
His was one of a great number of falls as potential winners Alejandro Valverde and Tejay Van Garderen also went down before the cobbles.
That cost them dearly as they were caught behind a split in the main peloton from the first set of cobbles and forced to chase hard to get back in contact.
The 152.km stage from Ypres, Belgium to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, proved even more hazardous than anticipated.
If the cobbles themselves weren’t tricky enough, driving rain overnight and into Wednesday made them so dangerous that two of the original nine sections had to be removed from the course.
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