The Swiss road champion said he could not endure another day of racing after crashing and injuring his left shoulder early on Friday's stage 7.

"I'm pretty much riding with one hand," Schär said. "This causes a lot of troubles in my whole body and I am completely stiff. I survived two stages of this but I cannot sleep any more from the fatigue and I can't really handle the handlebars in the downhill. It's dangerous for me and the other riders in the peloton."

BMC Racing Team Chief Medical Officer Dr. Max Testa said to continue on could have put Schär's long-term recovery from the injury at risk. "We need to do a full evaluation with more imaging," he said. "We don't want to wait too long. Based on that, we'll decide if we need a surgical correction or not."