Chris Froome crashed out of the Tour de France on Wednesday, leaving Team Sky to turn their focus towards a podium challenge for Richie Porte.
After two flawless Tours de France – wins for Sir Bradley Wiggins in 2012 and Froome a year later – Team Sky’s luck ran out on the roads of northern France.
Read more: Two falls in two days too much for Chris Froome at Tour de France
Froome crashed twice on Wednesday’s fifth stage from Ypres to Arenberg Porte du Hinaut, exacerbating injuries sustained in a crash on Tuesday’s fourth stage, particularly a wrist problem.
It was reported Froome began the stage with a fractured left wrist and torrential rain coupled with slick roads contributed to his premature withdrawal and return home.
The sad sight of Froome, dominant in winning the 2013 Tour, grimacing by the roadside was reminiscent of Sir Bradley Wiggins’ withdrawal with a broken collarbone in the first week of the 2011 Tour.
Three years ago Team Sky recalibrated to focus on stage wins and achieved their first Tour triumphs through Edvald Boasson Hagen’s double.
Now the general classification remains the goal ahead of Thursday’s 194-kilometre route from Arras to Reims in Champagne country, which is expected to end in a sprint.
Porte, who had been slated to lead Team Sky at May’s Giro d’Italia before withdrawing from contention due to illness, will now lead Team Sky.
Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford told teamsky.com: “This is incredibly sad for Chris and for the team.
“His bravery was incredible but the crashes just took their toll and he had no choice but to abandon.
“It’s not to be for Chris this year but that’s sport and he’ll be back.
“He’ll head home and we’ll make sure he’s looked after on the way back to full fitness.
“One man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity. This is Richie’s opportunity now, he steps up and he has the full support of the team.
“He’s come into form at the right time and given the way he is climbing we’ve got an exciting two and a half weeks ahead of us.”
Despite the atrocious conditions, which made for an epic day’s racing won by Lars Boom (Belkin), Froome was the only withdrawal as the peloton fell to 193 riders.
Just two of those left are Britons - Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) and Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) - after Froome joined Mark Cavendish (shoulder) in exiting the Tour.
Thomas played a key role in supporting Porte, who finished 20th, two minutes 11 seconds behind Boom to move up to eighth overall, 1min 54secs behind Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), who retained the yellow jersey with a third-placed finish.
Froome’s Tour ended not in Paris on July 27, but with a premature departure home battered and bruised following an eventful two days in northern France.
He will now undergo scans to determine the full extent of his injuries and could alter his season’s focus to the Vuelta a Espana, which begins in Jerez on August 23.
“I’m devastated to have to pull out of the race,” Froome told teamsky.com
“It was the right thing to do after crashing again and I knew that I couldn’t carry on.
“I’m going to fly home and over the next few days I’ll go for some more scans on my wrist to find out exactly what injuries I’ve sustained.
“The X-ray (on Tuesday night) didn’t show an obvious fracture and I wanted to race (on Wednesday), but clearly I was in pain and we put heavy strapping on the left wrist from the start.
“It’s too early to say for definite when I’ll be back on the bike, I’m just going to concentrate on getting back to full fitness.”
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BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
The%C2%A0specs%20
%3Cp%3E%0D%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E6-cylinder%2C%204.8-litre%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E5-speed%20automatic%20and%20manual%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E280%20brake%20horsepower%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E451Nm%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Efrom%20Dh153%2C00%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Enow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
THE%C2%A0SPECS
%3Cp%3EEngine%3A%204-cylinder%202.5-litre%20%2F%202-litre%20turbo%0D%3Cbr%3EPower%3A%20188hp%20%2F%20248hp%0D%3Cbr%3ETorque%3A%20244Nm%20%2F%20370Nm%0D%3Cbr%3ETransmission%3A%207-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3EOn%20sale%3A%20now%0D%3Cbr%3EPrice%3A%20From%20Dh110%2C000%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
more from Janine di Giovanni
'HIJRAH%3A%20IN%20THE%20FOOTSTEPS%20OF%20THE%20PROPHET'
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEdited%20by%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Idries%20Trevathan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPages%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20240%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hirmer%20Publishers%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EAvailable%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
Scoreline
Australia 2-1 Thailand
Australia: Juric 69', Leckie 86'
Thailand: Pokklaw 82'
Scoreline
Saudi Arabia 1-0 Japan
Saudi Arabia Al Muwallad 63’
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
