Froome out of Tour de France after yet another crash

Defending champion Chris Froome crashed out of the Tour de France on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old Briton fell twice during a wet and treacherous fifth stage.

The second time he was visibly injured and was seen shaking his head and holding his right arm before climbing into a Sky team car.

The stage from Ypres in Belgium to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut had been on everyone's minds for days because of the potentially dangerous cobbled sections and the threat of adverse weather conditions.

The rain poured down overnight and into Wednesday making the roads slippery.

But Froome didn't even last to the cobbles, crashing first 40 minutes into the stage on a straight piece of road on normal tarmac.

That was his second fall in successive days.

Although he got up and carried on he crashed again about an hour later, just before the cobbled sections began.