Tony Martin will not take the start of the 10th stage of Tour de France tomorrow. In agreement with the team sport management and the team medical staff, Martin will return at home this afternoon.
"Tony's impressive performance in the last days, going through all the pain and still fighting to be able to compete in the individual TT, shows what kind of character he has," team doctor Helge Riepenhof said." But from the medical point of view, it is now time to give the scaphoid fracture a chance to heal. We also have to avoid further issues to his body because of being limited in his movement while wearing a brace. This is the only possible decision to be able to perform at the London Olympics without damaging structures such as the lower back or knees."
"It's difficult for me to step out of the Tour and leave my teammates here to keep on fighting," Martin said. "But it's the right thing to do now, and I know that even the guys will understand. I will go home and I will try to recover as much as I can. I don't want things to get even worse going into the mountains. I cannot imagine sitting in the back of the peloton suffering every day a little bit more as I did during this week. I really tried, I put a lot of energy together with the team to arrive until today, but now it's time to think about my complete recovery. I have still three weeks before the Olympics. I know that it won't be easy, but I will do all my best to be in good shape for the Olympics. I wish all the best to my teammates and I thank the whole team for the great and professional help they gave me in this difficult week."
