Sunday 24 July 2016 10:08, UK
Tom Dumoulin’s hopes of winning gold in the Olympic Games time trial next month took a potentially fatal blow when he fractured his arm in a crash on stage 19 of the Tour de France.
The 25-year-old Dutchman fell after an innocuous clash of wheels with just over 60km to go and was forced to abandon the race.
His Giant-Alpecin team doctor said: "Tom has fractured his radius in his left forearm. It's a clean fracture and further examinations have shown no additional fracture of the wrist joint, which is good news.
"Tom will have further tests in the Netherlands to determine if surgery is required to stabilise the fracture and to make a treatment plan."
Dumoulin had been favourite to win the Olympic time trial, which takes place on a hilly, 54.5km course just outside Rio de Janeiro on August 10.
He had underlined his credentials by claiming a dominant victory in the Tour's 37.5km time trial on stage 13, although he was beaten into second by Chris Froome on stage 18's uphill time trial.
Dumoulin's injury means Froome is now likely to start the race as favourite.
Dumuolin said: "It's a huge setback. After the crash I instantly knew it was bad news. Luckily it is a clean fracture. As a precaution I have a cast but I can't ride a bike with it. If I need to keep this for two weeks, then my participation in Rio will be difficult."
