Chris Froome revealed his despair after his Tour de France title defence ended on Wednesday's cobbled fifth stage following three crashes in two days.
After the second of two crashes on the route from Ypres to Arenberg Porte du Hinaut, Froome withdrew to the Team Sky support car.
Froome wrote on Twitter: “Devastated to have to withdraw from this years TDF. Injured wrist and tough conditions made controlling my bike near to impossible.
“Thanks to the team & support staff for trying to get me through today. Wishing richie_porte & TeamSky the best for the rest of Tour!”
It has been reported Froome began the stage with a fractured left wrist, suffered when the 29-year-old Briton tumbled to the tarmac on Tuesday’s fourth stage.
The stage commemorated 100 years since the start of the first World War and features many of the cobbles used in the Paris-Roubaix one-day race ‘the Hell of the North’.
Torrential rain and wet roads only served to make the fifth stage more challenging.
Race organisers removed two of the nine cobbled sections because of the conditions, but Froome’s falls came prior even to the first section of cobbles he had been dreading since the route was announced last autumn.
The sad sight of Froome, dominant in winning the 2013 Tour, grimacing by the roadside was reminiscent of Bradley Wiggins’s withdrawal with a broken collarbone in the first week of the 2011 Tour.
Froome crashed early on the route before a second crash with around 70-kilometres remaining saw him end his defence.
He consulted Team Sky doctor Alan Farrell and sports director Nicolas Portal before taking his place in the back of the Team Sky car.
Despite the atrocious conditions, which made for an epic day’s racing won by Lars Boom (Belkin), Froome was the only withdrawal as the peloton fell to 193 riders.
Froome’s absence means the Tour’s wait for a first back-to-back winner since the disgraced Lance Armstrong won seven titles, all since removed, between 1999 and 2005 goes on.
Dutch rider Boom was in the day’s breakaway and proved the strongest over the cobbles on an epic day’s racing to win by 19 seconds from Vincenzo Nibali and his Astana team-mate Jakob Fuglsang.
It was a sensational ride from the Italian as he preserved his place in the leader’s yellow jersey, by two seconds from Fuglsang and 44 seconds from Peter Sagan (Cannondale).
Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) lost contact with his fellow escapees on the first cobbled section, but a 16-rider group formed with 25km, and four cobbled sections, to go.
It included Nibali, Sagan, Boom and Fabian Cancellara (Trek), many people’s tip for the stage win.
Two-time winner Alberto Contador was over a minute behind, but as the 16-rider lead group was stretched and then joined back together in a frantic period, the Spaniard lost further ground.
Nibali’s rivals continually tried to shed him from the group, but the Italian dug deep to stick with them and his team-mates Lieuwe Westra and Fuglsang did a sterling job at the front.
Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte, Team Sky’s leader after Froome’s withdrawal, tried to bridge the gap by escaping from the Contador group, the Welshman dragging along the Australian.
The Astana trio went ahead with Boom with 12km to go before Westra fell away from the leading group with 8km left.
Boom held a commanding lead as the riders exited the final cobbled section and soloed to victory as Nibali enhanced his advantage with support from Fuglsang.
Sagan led the second group home in fourth, 1min 01sec behind Boom, and Porte finished 20th, 2:11 behind, to move up to eighth overall, 1:54 behind Nibali.
Nicolas Roche fell back down the overall classification after coming home in 115th position, 13 minutes and 51 seconds behind Boom. The Irish rider drops from 25th to 53rd position after the stage.
