Juan Antonio Flecha became the the third Team Sky rider to abandon the Vuelta a España through illness.
Spaniard joins Augustyn and Swift on sidelines
Juan Antonio Flecha became the third Team Sky rider to be forced out of the Vuelta a España through illness when he abandoned the race on stage seven.
The Spaniard had been struggling on account of the stomach virus which swept through the team early in the final Grand Tour of the season.
John-Lee Augustyn and Ben Swift were unable to complete the third stage and Flecha joined them on the sidelines during Friday's 187.1 kilometres route from Murcia to Orihuela.
Sports Director Marcus Ljungqvist had warned that the popular Spaniard, who was third at Paris-Roubaix earlier in the season and also raced in the Tour de France, was finding things particularly difficult after the sixth stage, explaining: "Flecha is definitely not 100% right now. He had a bad stomach this morning and things haven't improved a great deal as the day has worn on. He's battled on to the finish though and hopefully he'll be fit enough to continue tomorrow."
He was able to start the stage but appeared in trouble at the start of the day's one ranked climb, the third category Alto de Puerto de Hondón de los Frailes 127km into the day.
Flecha came back to the team car to speak to Ljungqvist and the decision was made soon after.
The stage was won by Lampre's Alessandro Petacchi.
