Soler out of Tour de France

Mauricio Soler’s (Barloworld) Tour de France ended in the first kilometers of the fifth stage on Wednesday. 2008 has been a very unlucky year for the Colombian climber and now he has been forced to quit the Tour de France in the same way he quit the Giro d’Italia.

Soler with heavily bandaged wrist - Pic fotoreporter sirotti

A scan on Monday night in Nantes confirmed the fracture in Soler’s right hand following the crash during stage one of the Tour de France and it was impossible for Mauricio to continue in the race because of the pain when he held the handlebars. It was difficult for him to steer his bike and he even risked crashing while riding to the official start.

“In agreement with Mauricio we decided to wait two days after the crash to see if things improved but we’ve had to accept that it is impossible for Soler to carry on in the Tour de France,” Barloworld team manager Claudio Corti said.

“Mauricio’s had a lot of bad luck this year. Unfortunately his crashes in both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France have seriously affected a year of hard work and that’s sad for Mauricio and everyone in the Barloworld team.”

In 2007 Soler was the revelation of the Tour de France, winning the mountain stage to Briançon and the polka-dot climber’s jersey awarded to best climber.

Soler will now head to Italy for treatment to his injuries and then programme the rest of the season.