Daniel Oss forced to withdraw from Tour de France with fractured vertebra

Peter Sagan has lost a key rider from his TotalEnergies squad with the retirement of Daniel Oss from this year’s Tour de France. The Italian has been diagnosed with cervical fracture and is a non-starter for stage 6 of the race.

Oss was one of many riders who fell during Wednesday’s stage, which took in 11 sectors of cobblestones. A video recorded at the scene showed Oss riding along the grass verge and clipping a spectator who was filming the riders.

He fell heavily but was able to remount and reach the finish, crossing the line 13 minutes and seven seconds behind the stage winner Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech). He underwent medical examinations on Wednesday evening.

Also read:

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• Tour de France: Jumbo-Visma narrowly salvages disaster day on the cobbles
• Jack Haig and Michael Gogl are first abandons of the 2022 Tour de France

TotalEnergies confirmed Oss’ withdrawal in a tweet on Thursday morning. “Additional examinations revealed a fracture of a cervical vertebra requiring immobilization for a few weeks,” it said. “Daniel Oss is therefore forced to leave the Tour de France… The whole team wishes you a good recovery Daniel”

Oss, 35, is a key right hand man for Sagan, who also fell during the stage. They have ridden together for many years, firstly as part of the Liquigas team between 2010 and 2012 and then reuniting at Bora-Hansgrohe from 2018 until the end of last season.

Both moved to TotalEnergies this year.

Stage 5 saw a number of big crashes, including a fall involving one of the big pre-Tour favourites Primož Roglič and Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), plus other spills with yellow jersey Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Michael Gogl (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious).

The latter two were forced to withdraw before the finish, while Oss joins them in the list of Tour abandons on Thursday.