Louis Meintjes and Antonio Pedrero have abandoned the Tour de France after a mass crash in the opening kilometres of stage 14 that saw the race paused to allow the many fallen riders receive medical attention.
The mass crash took place 6km into the stage, when the peloton was strung out amid a flurry of early attacks and counter-attacks. Some 50 or so riders were held up in the incident, which appeared to be triggered by a rider slipping out on a sweeping, wet corner.
The commissaires quickly made the decision to neutralise the stage, and the peloton paused for 29 minutes before the race eventually re-started.
Pedrero received treatment at the roadside before being stretchered into an ambulance. The Spaniard is the second Movistar rider to abandon the Tour after his leader Enric Mas crashed out on the first day in Bilbao.
Meintjes abandoned with what race radio described as an arm injury. The Intermarché-Circus-Wanty rider had been lying 13th overall after two weeks of racing.
Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) were among the many other riders to receive treatment for injuries sustained in the crash, but they were able to return to the bunch for the restart.
The race was paused for almost half an hour, and the commissaires neutralised the first 2km after the re-start, with the action beginning again in earnest with 144km remaining.
Several riders caught in the crash dropped out the rear of the peloton shortly after racing restarted up the third-category Col de Saxel, with Esteban Chaves (EF Education-EasyPost) becoming the third rider to exit the race not long afterwards.
Saturday's stage sees the peloton take in the climbs of the Col de Cou, Col du Feu, Col de la Ramaz and Col de Joux Plane before the descent to the finish in Morzine.
