CHATEAUROUX, France (Reuters) -Tadej Pogacar's Tour de France hopes suffered a blow on Sunday as the Slovenian's key domestique Joao Almeida withdrew following a crash on Friday.
Almeida, 26, who finished fourth in the general classification last year, abandoned after 89km of stage nine, two days after fracturing a rib in a spectacular high-speed crash.
The Portuguese rider had come into the race in brilliant form having won the Tour de Suisse, the Tour of the Basque Country and the Tour de Romandie earlier this year.
"We are really sad that we lost Joao (Almeida) today," Pogacar told reporters on Sunday. "I think it was just too much. I was suffering today on the bike... I cannot imagine him with all the pain, it must be really, really painful."
"It's a really big loss. Joao was in a super great shape."
Three-time Tour champion Pogacar lamented his teammate's withdrawal a day before the race enters the Massif Central with 4,450 metres of climbing awaiting the peloton on Monday.
"It was a luxury to have him in the GC (general classification), he could also do a great result for himself here in the Tour," Pogacar said.
"For sure, he would be a big help on the mountains. Now we have to reassess a little bit. We will try to win this Tour for Joao."
World champion Pogacar can still count on the support of some good climbers including Adam Yates, who claimed third overall in 2023, Marc Soler and Pavel Sivakov.
(Reporting by Vincent DaheronEditing by Toby Davis)
