MORZINE, France – Australian Ben O’Connor, who was initially the leader of the AG2R Citroën team, has given up on continuing the Tour de France, the formation of Vincent Lavenu announced on Monday during the rest day .

Victim of a fall during the second stage, O’Connor suffers from a muscular lesion of the right gluteus medius.

The Australian, fourth in the Tour and winner of the Tignes stage last year, had approached the Tour with confidence, after his third place in the Dauphiné.

“Since his fall, Ben suffered. The vibrations during the cobblestone stage did not facilitate his recovery and his second fall on Saturday during the eighth stage further aggravated the pain,” explained Dr Serge Niamke, doctor for the French team.

O’Connor was in 86th place overall, nearly 50 minutes behind the yellow jersey wearer, Slovenian Tadej Pogacar.