Cancellara latest big name to abandon race

The Leopard Trek rider was 34th in General Classification but called it quits on the race's first rest day after helping team leader Frank Schleck in the first proper mountain stage.

“I will travel home now and take a little break. The season has been long for me, starting back in Dubai. I have done 59 days of competition this season so far and I have another big goal at the end of this season: the World Championships. It’s not a secret that I’d like to be in my best shape there, so it’s important that I take some rest,” said Cancellara in explaining his decision.

Cancellara, a cobblestone specialist, was one of the favourites to win stage five in Arenberg but had to settle for fifth.

“It was not only about the cobblestones stage for me. The course for this year’s Tour is very attractive for a rider of my profile, I liked it. There were many opportunities and with a little more luck, I could have gone home with a result in the pocket. It’s been good to be back in the Tour. We lost Andy (Schleck) and Danny (Van Poppel) early on, but the team is strong and will keep on looking for opportunities.”

General Manager Luca Guercilena said: “We brought Fabian to the Tour to be a factor where his skills allowed it and he didn’t disappoint. He’s a rider that always comes to a race to give everything - if you just look at how he was working for Fränk (Schleck) yesterday at 20 km from the finish in a mountain stage. Now he gets a short break and then we will build up his condition again to be at his best in Ponferrada.

The Tour has already been hit be a number of high profile withdrawals since the start of the race including pre-race favourites Chris Froome and Alberto Contador.