Alexandre Geniez, who had a fantastic Giro in 2015 and was key in helping Thibaut Pinot win a stage on Alpe d’Huez in last year’s Tour, has been ruled out of the Tour de France this season.

He crashed in the first week of the Giro and was forced to abandon, but scans this week showed a fracture to his scaphoid bone which had been previously undetected.

"In plaster for four weeks. No activity for two weeks," Geniez tweeted. "No Tour de France. A return possibly at the Tour de Pologne."

The duo’s DS at FDJ, Martial Gayan, spoke to Velopro.fr about Geniez’s injury.

"He hurt his wrist but the initial tests back in France hadn't revealed any fracture. He therefore started training again with a view to the Tour de Suisse but it kept troubling him. Days passed, the pain didn't go away, and he therefore had another scan. This time, there was a small fracture needing an operation to insert a screw followed by a plaster."