Lipowitz suffers broken collarbone in Tour crash as season at risk

Top German rider Florian Lipowitz broke his collarbone in a crash on the 16th stage of the Tour de France and his season could now be compromised.

>Last year's third-place finisher was fifth overall heading into Tuesday's time trial but a heavy crash at speed meant he had to withdraw from the race given his injury, which was confirmed by his Red Bull team.

>He will miss at least six weeks, which makes the Vuelta (August 22 to September 13) impossible and the World Championships in Montreal (September 20 to 27) unlikely. The one-day races in Italy at the end of the season such as the Tour of Lombardy (October 10) are still doable.

>It was a bitter-sweet day for the team given other leading rider Remco Evenepoel won the stage to trim Tadej Pogačar's overall lead to 4 minutes 32 seconds. The Tour concludes on Sunday.

>Team boss Ralph Denk said: "We will not only miss Florian in the fight for the podium, we will also miss him here as a person. We won but it is not as if it is super great for us. I also feel sorry for Remco that not everything here is peace, joy and pancakes."