Jakbon Fuglsang (Astana) has abandoned the 2019 Tour de France after crashing on Stage 16. The Dane went down on what should have been a straight forward day for the General Classification riders but proved otherwise as the crash ended his race.
With his team gathered around him to take their race leader back to the peloton, the signs that Fuglsang's race could be over started to show as he removed his helmet and stood around looking dazed.
As the race cameras stayed on Fuglsang he made his way towards the medical vehicles and his race was over.
With around 25km left to what is expected to be a sprint finish, the peloton continued on its way to the line in Nimes.
Despite a strong spring campaign and much talk of his status as one of the favourites, Fuglsang went into the second rest day after 15 stages in ninth place, 5:27 adrift of Julian Alaphilippe in the yellow jersey.
Even if Alaphilippe is discounted - following the less and less assured assumption that he'll drop away from the podium in the race's final week - Fuglsang was still 3:37 behind Thibaut Pinot in current fourth place overall.
To jump that many places and take back that much time would have been a huge ask if Fuglsang were to reach the final podium in Paris.
Even so, he could have been in with a chance of a stage win in the race's late mountain stages. Regardless, whether in first place overall or barely making the time cut at the back, it's never nice to see anyone's race end due to injury or illness.