Tour de France: Richie Porte, Dion Smith and Tour De France

Kiwi cyclist Patrick Bevin lost his team leader to the Tour de France

The Australian hopeful Richie Porte was forced to abandon the Tour after falling 10 kilometers in the Step 9 and have a broken collarbone. Kiwi Dion Smith 's also collapsed and took off from the race

Porte said before the Tour de France that his hopes of dethroning Chris Froome were based on not having any more bad luck – like the fall that l? hit last year.

Bad luck struck Sunday again when he was injured in an accident at the start of the 9th stage and could not continue the three-week Grand Tour.

Much had been made of the day's hike through the much-dreaded. The cobblestones of Roubaix as the 156.5 kilometer stage have approached the Belgian border since his departure to Arras.

But unlike the Porte accident during the 2017 Tour that happened on a mountain run, this fall took place on a paved road before Ad Gate hd even reached the first paved path.

After being involved in a pile-up group, Porte sat on the road squeezing his upper right arm. He could not get back on his bike and was sent directly to the hospital in an ambulance.

BMC sports director Fabio Baldato said that Porte had the air of breaking his collarbone

. painful, "said Baldato." He went strong with the shoulder. "

Door had entered the day in 10th place at 57 seconds from the leader, his teammate BMC Greg Van Avermaet.

was also nine seconds ahead on Froome with the race to the south in the Alps and the Pyrenees where the Australian could exploit his climbing skills.

To make matters worse for his team, his best option to take the place of Door as a leader was having a terrible day on the pavement.The American Tejay van Garderen was one of the many riders to fall and got into mechanical trouble during the extremely difficult course.He managed to continue, but dropped in the general classification from third place to nine seconds to thirtieth more than six minutes late.

"It was just a day of bad luck In the first 5K, we lose Richie, today J & # I had three apartments and I crashed, "said Van Garderen. "It's a big hit for Richie and for the title of the team."

Van Avermaet sailed on the pavement, finishing second behind the winner of the John Degenkolb special, to increase his lead over Froome's teammate Sky, Geraint Thomas. at 43 seconds

But Van Avermaet, the Olympic road racing champion, is not a good climber and acknowledged that he was unlikely to keep the yellow jersey on the next three stages in the Alps.

We start the race as the guys (in the lead) have problems on that kind of stage, "said Van Avermaet," I tried to give them confidence but it's difficult, it's a big disappointment for the team we lost Richie from the start of the race. "

Baldato said that Gate out, and Van Garderen far behind, Le team only realistic goal is to try to get a stage win on the few remaining trays.

"We are trying to look for the end of the Tour to have some steps and enjoy the fun because of course the (title) and the podium is gone," he said ..