BARCELONNETTE, France — The American cyclist Tejay van Garderen abandoned the Tour de France on Wednesday well before the finish of the 100-mile Alpine stage.
Van Garderen, who started the day in third place over all, was unable to stay with the main pack of riders, including the race leader, Chris Froome, on the first climb of the day, the relatively benign Col des Lèques.
As the distance grew between van Garderen and Froome, he called for the medical car. Although van Garderen’s BMC teammates had dropped back to help pace him to the main group, his time gap with Froome and the others, including Alberto Contador, grew to more than 4 minutes 15 seconds.