Philippe Gilbert leaves the Tour: "It's a miracle that he has reached the finish, he can not walk anymore"

Philippe Gilbert will not be able to leave Wednesday morning and abandons the Tour de France after his fall in the 16th stage of the Tour de France.

The Walloon pbaded over a wall in the descent of Portet d'Aspet. After first exams in the organization's medical truck, it appears that the ligaments in his left knee are affected. He was evacuated to a hospital for further examinations. "My Tour is over," commented the Liege when getting into the ambulance.

The team doctor Toon Cruyt: "It's a miracle that Gilbert has reached the finish"

Toon Cruyt was still optimistic during the visit of Philippe Gilbert to the Bagnères-de-Luchon medical station. "We are just going to sew the wound," said the team doctor. "I do not think anything is broken." After the first problems, however, the mood had changed. Gilbert's knee was very swollen, the runner could barely walk. "It's a miracle that Phil has reached the finish line."

Gilbert obtained the price of combativeness at the end of the sixteenth stage and made himself on the podium. He also drove to the team bus. Once there, he got on the bus himself before being overwhelmed by emotion. "I just saw the pictures, it's terrible, I was lucky," said the Belgian before bursting into tears

Once the adrenaline disappeared, the pain intensified. "He can not walk on his leg anymore," said the Toon Cruyts team doctor. "When he drove, it was still sustainable, but now, after half an hour in the medical post where he went to bed, the knee started to swell strongly." He suffers too much bleeding at the Knee, muscles and ligament are affected, there is nothing broken, but for safety we will do an MRI at the hospital, but the chance it starts tomorrow is 0.0 percent. can not even walk, it's not normal. "

" It's a miracle that he has reached the finish line, "finished the team's doctor. "He was in a lot of pain, you could see him when he crossed the line, he had to bite on his quid, he's a tough guy but his Tour is over, and it seems unlikely to me that he'll be starting tomorrow." 19659006] Gilbert also briefly spoke. "I can not use my leg anymore," he explained just before entering the ambulance. "We are now going to the hospital to do further tests, to find out what's going on, my tour is over, yes."

Tour boss Christian Prudhomme wanted to visit Gilbert's ambulance before his departure to the hospital and wished him a lot of courage.