©Team Sky

Team Sky will start with only eight riders when the Tour resumes on Tuesday. Australian Simon Gerrans suffered a broken arm in a crash in the Tour's eight stage on Sunday, which occured Seven kilometers into Sunday's eighth stage from Station des Rousses to Morzine-Avoriaz.

The first of three crashes on stage 8 tangled polka dot jersey Jerome Pineau (FRA/QUick Step), Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) among others.

And although he bravely battled on to finish the 189km route, Gerrans was taken to the hospital to see  X-rays on his left elbow confirmed the worst news.

The winner of stages in all three of the Grand Tours, Gerrans had this year endured a luckless Tour de France. He was one of the many riders who fell on stage two from Brussels to Spa and then crashed again the following day.

That second crash resulted in a trip to the hospital to check he hadn't fractured his cheekbone after he fell on his pedal when hitting the road.

Sporting several stitches and a black eye he was able to continue the race but this latest news means his Tour de France is over.

Gerrans told www.teamsky.com: "Obviously I'm very disappointed - I've had the sort of Tour de France you'd rather forget.

"I'm absolutely gutted that I'm not going to be able to help the other guys over the next two weeks."

No one waited for Armstrong this time, as he finishes the stage that ensures he will not wear the yellow jersey in 2010.
(photo: Yuzuru Sunada)

To Wait or not To Wait When Armstrong Crashes

Lance Armstrong has lost his chances at an eighth yellow jersey Sunday when he crashed after hitting his pedal on the curb of a roundabout. As the crash ensued, riders rode quickly away.

To some, the idea of leaving a champion behind to chase not only lacked the necessary etiquette in the peloton, but also seemed a highly disrespectful move for a rider who has been known to stop or slow down for fallen competitors. Luxemburger Andy Schleck said after he won the stage: "I thought we should have waited on him, especially given what Armstrong has achieved in the past.

"You have to have some respect. Plus, it's his last Tour," he said.

Others in the peloton disagree.

"To have a crash in a mountain stage of a Tour can be really difficult," said Evans, who will wear the yellow jersey into Tuesday's stage when he will start with a 20sec lead on Saxo Bankm rival Schleck.

"Two years ago when I crashed in the Tour I had one of hardest days of my career on the stage to Hautacam, with all the bruising and pain.

"That day, I got dropped with (sprinter) Julian Dean on the first climb and was fighting for yellow at the end of day.

"I went from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs. It was a bit different today."

In the first crash of the day just eight kilometers from the start, Yaroslav Popovych (UKR/Team RadioShack) took the obligation of peloton police and scolded the Cofidis riders who attacked when they heard the crash behind them.

Armstrong suffered yet another crash on the stage from Station des Rousses to Morzine-Avoriaz on Sunday when Euskatel-Euskadi rider lost his musette bag into his front wheel.

However it was the crash at the foot of the Col de la Ramaz, the penultimate climb of the day when American suffered a sore hip and scrapes after crashing when he clipped his pedal at a roundabout. As he dusted himself off, the peloton raced on
ahead.
 
After a frantic chase, Armstrong finally gave up, later admitting - after he finished almost 12 minutes in arrears to all his rivals - he could not produce the power he needed to get back to the peloton.

Britain's Bradley Wiggins said Armstrong's crash and subsequent setback prompted little emotion in the peloton as they raced up the Col de la Ramaz.

"I don't think people (riders) give a monkey's to be honest, maybe the spectators and the press do, but amongst the riders it's just a crash. Lance has gone down, and everyone carries on," he said Monday.

"A few guys maybe get a bit, 'oh no, Lance has crashed, what do we do?' But the racing carries on."

Armstrong has crashed several times on what is his final Tour campaign, and Wiggins believes that after avoiding many catastrophes during his seven-year reign, his luck has perhaps run out.

"It's just unfortunate. It was pot luck, just one of those things," he added.

"He's crashed a couple of times on this race and he had seven years with no crashes virtually, and they just seem to happen now."

Wiggins forgot about stage 15 of the 2003 Tour de France when Armstrong caught his handlebar on the strap of a spectator's musette bag and Jan Ullrich waited for Lance- and when Lance waited for Jan Ullrich after Jan crashed into a ravine on the slopes of Col de Peyresourde.