Fury as ‘brave’ King is axed from the Tour

Ted King has been kicked out of Tour de France by organisers, sparking anger from his team.

Yesterday in Nice was the team time trial when riders had to finish within 25 per cent of the leader’s time but the American, on his Tour debut, was seven seconds outside of the limit.

King was still struggling with the shoulder injury he suffered in the mass crash on Saturday’s first stage and was in too much pain to ride his time trial bike, so was forced to ride a slower road one instead.

King’s Cannondale team asked the race jury to show leniency but their plea was rejected. A team spokesman said: “He was very brave. He did not stop fighting. We cannot believe the decision.”