Richie Porte was left "devastated" after fracturing his right collarbone during stage 9 of the 2018 Tour de France which saw him abandon the race for the second consecutive year.
Australian Porte, who was 10th in the race for the yellow jersey 57 seconds behind leader and BMC Racing teammate Greg Van Avermaet, was left in tears when he crashed out just 10km into the stage which saw Van Avermaet increase his lead in the yellow jersey.
The BMC team leader broke his collarbone and pelvis in last year's crash and was faced with the same decision to abandon after today's crash.
"Obviously I'm devastated," said Porte. "For the second year in a row I am ending the Tour de France like this. I was on the ground before I knew it and straight away felt pain in my right shoulder.
"I want to say a big thank you to my teammates for their incredible work over the first nine days. We had a great first week and I'm so disappointed that I won't be continuing to Paris. I hope to recover as fast as possible and get back to racing."
BMC chief medical officer, Dr. Max Testa confirmed the diagnosis, insisting that he needed to rest for a week before considering starting to ride on his home trainer.
"We are expecting him to be back on the bike training in probably three to four weeks and potentially racing in six to eight weeks. We will continue to monitor Richie's recovery and adjust the plan accordingly," Dr Testa explained.