Gastritis made Tiralongo leave Tour de France

Italian cyclist of Astana cycling team Paolo Tiralongo left Tour de France on the 58th km of the 17th stage because of gastritis, the team's official website writes citing the team's doctor. “Starting from the middle of last week he was suffering from a virulent form of gastritis. This prevented him from eating well. For the last few days he tried his best to stay in the race, but today it turned out that he cannot continue cycling in such shape,” the doctor said. Thus, there are 7 cyclists left in Astana team at Tour de France. On the 9th stage of the Big Loop Kazakhstan team lost its leader Aleksandre Vinokourov, who fell into a ditch and received a pelvic fracture. Later Vinokouriv announced his retirement. French cyclist Thomas Voeckler is still leading in the general classification of Tour de France. He is followed by Cadel Evans from Australia and Frank Schleck from Luxembourg. The best cyclist of Astana team is Kazakhstan cyclist Andrei Zeits. He is 34 minutes and 36 seconds behind Voeckler and is ranked 34th. 18th stage of the Big Loop will be held today, July 21, between Pinerolo and Galibier Serre-Chevalier. The tournament will finish on July 24 in Paris.