Froome bows out of Tour

Froome, the 29-year-old Team Sky leader, bowed out of the Tour de France on Wednesday after falling twice in the fifth stage of the race.

As defending champion, Froome was a favorite to win again this year.

Froome, who was already nursing pain in his left wrist from a crash a day earlier, went down early in the 152.5-kilometer (94.5-mile) route from the Belgian town of Ypres to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut in France, scraping his right side.

Then, halfway through the stage, just before the first patch of cobblestones, the Kenya-born Brit took another tumble and appeared to suffer a cut under his right eye.

Froome wasn't the only rider to fall from his bike. Overall race leader Vincenzo Nibali of Italy also fell. However, he recovered and ended the stage in third and gained significant time on his overall rivals.

Responding to the dangers even before the stage began, race organizers canceled two of the planned nine cobblestone patches that the stage was to cover, and reduced the total length by 3 kilometers, to 152.5 kilometers.

Dutch rider Lars Boom, who rides for Belkin Pro Cycling, won the chaotic stage. "This is a special, special day for me," he said, "I was really looking forward to the cobblestones."

hc/mkg (AFP, AP)