Rohan Dennis has abandoned the Tour de France midway through Stage 12 to Bagneres-de-Bigorre without telling his Bahrain-Merida team why.
The Australian stepped off his bike with 80km from the finish line, deciding to pull out of the race.
Dennis had not crashed and showed no notable signs of illness before leaving the race. According to reports from French television, Dennis was spotted arguing with his team car before the incident.
Both Bahrain-Merida sport directors also confirmed they did not know why Dennis had abandoned the race with the team taking to its Twitter page to state:
'Our priority is the welfare of all our riders so will launch an immediate investigation but will not be commenting further until we have established what has happened to @RohanDennis.'
He was allegedly driven to the finish by a team soigneur. Near his team bus he was approached by some journalists for comment, but did not offer any response or indication of why he was leaving.
@RohanDennis abandons @LeTour#sbstdf more news to follow @SophieSmith86pic.twitter.com/fT9Ia5Pa1r
— CyclingCentral (@CyclingCentral) July 18, 2019
The time trial World Champion will abandon the race before the race's only individual time trial tomorrow, a 27.5km test in Pau.
It will be a blow for the Bahrain-Merida team who are currently hunting stage wins.
So far, the team had already taken victory on Stage 6 to Les Planche des Belles Filles with Dylan Teuns.
It would have been hoping to take tomorrow's time trial with Dennis, who would have started among the favourites, but they will likely need to reassess their goals, likely focusing on Vincenzo Nibali's stage opportunities in the Alps in the third week.