Cycling-Pogacar loses key teammate Almeida in Tour de France blow

Cycling - Tour de France - Stage 9 - Chinon to Chateauroux - Chinon, France - July 13, 2025 UAE Team Emirates XRG's Tadej Pogacar wearing the yellow jersey crosses the finish line after stage 9 REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier

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.