Fabian Cancellara has pulled out of his final Tour de France to focus on his preparations for the Rio Olympics.
The 35-year-old Swiss, who won gold in the 2008 men's time trial in Beijing, announced the news after Wednesday's stage 17 from his home city of Berne to Finhaut-Emosson, and before the race crossed back into France.
Cancellara's exit leaves Bauke Mollema, second overall to Chris Froome and two minutes and 27 seconds back, short of two team-mates for the final four stages after Edward Theuns withdrew injured last week.
"This was not an easy decision to take, but I feel it is the right one," said Cancellara, who is in his final season as a professional. "I don't like withdrawing from a race, especially not when our GC leader is in second place at four days from Paris.
"With some really hard stages ahead of us my support would naturally be more limited so we took the decision together to withdraw. It was a hard Tour for me: a lot of stress and I feel tired. If I want to be good at the Olympics I need rest.
"The Tour has given me a lot in the last 12 years and I don't say this lightly. I gave a lot of thought to this decision to withdraw from the race. Today was very emotional for me - more than I expected it to be, and more than when I finished the Classics in the Roubaix velodrome: the stage to Berne, the start there this morning and the gift they presented me; everything.
"Right now knowing that these were my last kilometers in the Tour de France is hard. I want to thank the organisers for all those years, and for the trophy of my final Tour stage. I will treasure that forever. I'm drawing a line under a big story of my life."
Cancellara won gold in the men's time trial and silver in the men's road race in Beijing in 2008 - following the disqualification of Davide Rebellin. He crashed during the Olympic road race in London in 2012 and, carrying injuries, subsequently managed seventh in the time trial.
In his Tour de France, the Classics specialist won seven stages in his career, and wore the race leader's yellow jersey in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2015.
Source: PA-WIRE
