Ben O'Connor, who crashed on the second stage in Denmark and has been out of the Tour de France for seven stages, will leave the race on a rest day Monday, his AG2R Citroën team announced.

The Australian's muscle pain in his right hip worsened during Sunday's mountain stage to Chatel. O'Connor told Cycling News before the start that he had intended to assess his condition on a rest day, but it worsened during the stage.

"I've been battling a buttock injury for a few days now, but yesterday it got even worse. I tore a muscle in my hip on the stage to Lausanne and had to pedal on one leg."

"It was really difficult. I fought yesterday and wanted to see if I could get through this pain, but it was too much. It's more or less like a knife in the ass, pretty brutal. I don't think it will get better by the end of the race, so I won't make it to the start of stage 10."

O'Connor dropped out after the first few kilometers of stage 9 and eventually returned to the peloton to ride to the finish at Grupetto after 193km of racing. Up front, teammate Bob Jungels took the breakaway win, making it a bittersweet day for AG2R.

"Ben has been in pain since the crash," said Jungels. The vibrations from the cobblestone stage didn't help his recovery, and a second crash on Saturday's stage 8 made the pain even worse."

O'Connor said he went into the race fully prepared to try to replicate his success at the 2021 Tour, where he won stage 9 to Tignes and finished fourth overall. Comprehensive preparation for the Tour, he noted, made his loss all the more frustrating.

"Obviously I'm upset. The Tour de France is the biggest race of the year, it's a race I've been preparing for all year and I came here with a big goal in mind.

"Even though it was already falling apart a few days ago, it would be even worse to fall apart even more and not be able to race the way I wanted and dreamed of. It's because of injuries and bad luck, not because of lack of preparation. I prepared perfectly, but Lady Luck was not on my side."

O'Connor will now concentrate on the Vuelta a España, scheduled for the end of the summer. Before leaving the Tour, however, he had positive words to say about his teammates and Jungels.

"I was very happy for (Bob). It was complicated for me, but it was really beautiful to see him win after all that hard work." When Ollie and I went back to Grippett, we were really smiling. We were just shocked and happy. I think that's what happened last year when he heard I won. It wasn't a fun perspective for me, but it was nice to see it from a different perspective."

Elsewhere, Total Energy's Alexis Vuillermoz also withdrew from the race after suffering a fever and skin infection that required surgery.

The Frenchman suffered heat exhaustion and vomiting on stage 9 and was treated by the first aid team at the finish. He was discharged from the hospital in the evening and wrote on social media that he would discuss future races with his team on Monday's rest day.

As of Monday afternoon, 174 riders remained in the Tour de France, with Jacques Haig (Bahrain Victorious), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), and Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroen) the most notable, along with O'Connor.