Broken leg for Siutsou

Kanstantsin Siutsou: Forced to abandon Tour de France with broken leg

Team Sky will have to face up to the rest of their Tour de France campaign without Kanstantsin Siutsou after the Belarusian suffered a fractured tibia on sage three.

The 197-kilometre trip from Orchies to Boulogne-sur-Mer on Tuesday was marred by several crashes, one of the most serious of which saw Siutsou become the first abandonment of the race.

Yellow jersey hopeful Bradley Wiggins was also held up behind a crash near the finish, but the British rider did not lose any time in the overall standings due to the fall happening within the final 3km.

Wiggins remained second overall, seven seconds behind Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan), but will have to cope without team-mate Siutsou for the remainder of the Tour.

"The first week of the Tour is inherently risky. It's a question of staying upright on your bike," Team Sky Team Principal Dave Brailsford said.

Getting through

"Bradley has done that again today, he has got through, another box ticked and that's the way you have got to approach it.

"It's like boxing. You take a punch, as long as you have still got gloves on and are fighting you can still knock the other bloke out."

Sports Director Sean Yates says that losing Siutsou is a setback, but is confident in the ability of the rest of the team to cover the workload without him.

Yates said: "He is a big loss. We have to deal with it. It will just impact on the workload of the other seven members of the team."

There were several crashes in the early part of last year's Tour, including one which forced Wiggins to abandon with a broken collarbone, and the high-speed, flat stages are once again proving to be a nervous battleground.

Yates added: "One minute all is calm, the next minute all hell is let loose. It's a little bit nerve-racking."