Bad news for Lotto Soudal this morning: Greg Henderson won’t be at the start of the seventh stage. The rib injury of the New-Zealander is so painful that it isn’t an option to continue the race. Henderson was involved in the big crash on Monday in the stage from Antwerp to Huy.

“It’s not easy to race with an injury like Greg has," Team doctor Jan Mathieu said. "As rider and team doctor you hope there is some kind of stabilization, that makes it possible to continue the race, but unfortunately that’s not the case. Last night the pain got worse and that’s why we decided to call it quits. The Tour is still long, it’s pointless to continue.”

“Already after my crash on Monday I was in a lot of pain," Henderson said. "But I didn’t want to blame myself I hadn’t tried and I took the start on Tuesday. I hoped I would have less pain after a few days, but the Tour still lasts more than two weeks and I can’t continue this way. Even sitting at the side of my bed hurts.

"You don’t want to abandon the Tour. You come here to reach goals together and finish in Paris three weeks later. And that won’t happen for me. The guys already did a brilliant job, I hope they can continue on this way and make Lotto Soudal even more successful.”