Britain's Thomas crashes out of Tour de France

Briton Geraint Thomas has abandoned the Tour de France after sustaining a suspected broken collarbone following a crash in a high-speed descent during the ninth stage on Sunday.

Organisers said on their official twitter feed that Thomas, who went down on the slippery descent from the Col de la Biche, had retired from the Tour.

Thomas, who had already crashed three times during this Tour, was second overall, 12 seconds behind Sky team mate Chris Froome.

The Welshman, who spent four days with the yellow jersey after winning the opening time trial in Duesseldorf, also abandoned the Giro d’Italia this year after a crash caused by a police motorbike forced him out of the race a few days later. (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)  -Reuters