Geoffrey Bouchard will not start this year's Tour de France. The French climber of AG2R Citroën had additional investigations carried out after his fall in the Critérium du Dauphiné and a fracture in the scaphoid was discovered.
Bouchard crashed last week during the individual time trial of the Critérium du Dauphiné. The Frenchman had to leave the race and was taken to hospital, where a rib fracture was diagnosed. Bouchard also suffered multiple abrasions on the right side of his body.
This is not only a bitter pill for Bouchard, but also for his team. The French team will now have to find a substitution for Bouchard in the mountains, where their leader Ben O'Connor will try to achieve best possible GC result.
Bouchard, the former winner of KOM classifications in both - Giro d'Italia and La Vuelta - was having a great start to this season, coming third in two stages of Tour of Oman as well as in the final GC, which he then topped with another third place in UAE Tour's queen stage with finish on Jebel Hafeet, where he bested some of the world's top climbers.
🚑 Suite à sa chute sur le @dauphine, @GeoffBouche souffre d'une fracture du scaphoïde droit qui nécessite une immobilisation stricte de 45 jours. Il ne pourra donc pas participer au Tour de France. Reviens-nous vite 👊🏼 #AG2RCITROËNTEAM #RoulonsAutrement #RideDifferently
