Euskaltel-Euskadi rider Amets Txurruka was been forced to abandon the Tour de France following stage four after he was involved in a crash that resulted in a broken right collarbone. The Basque rider managed to soldier on to finish the 153.5 kilometer stage 4 minutes and 37 seconds behind winner Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese Vini) with the hope that he could recover overnight to start the fifth stage.
Txurruka fractured the same collarbone in his home Tour, the Vuelta al País Vasco, preventing him from taking the start in the individual time trial on the race's final day.
In 2007 he was voted the most combative rider at the Tour de France, and finished second on stage 13 in last year's edition. His Euskaltel-Euskadi team was highly impressed with the medical team at the Tour de France, who said Txurruka was "treated with the utmost urgency and professionalism in the medical center."