Cozza quits

"Steven Cozza ‏ @STEVENCOZZA  teamnetapp.com/en/news/detail… ITs official. Thanks to all my great loyal fans. I will miss you all. Time for a fresh start in life... Farewell"

Steven Cozza
(image credit: Thomas Ducroquet CC BY 2.0)

Steven Cozza, cycling's most mustachioed rider, has announced his retirement from racing. The American, who has been riding for Team NetApp since the beginning of the 2011 season, came third in the National Junior Time Trial Championships in 2003 and has added several good results since then, mostly in time trials but also in road races such as the Vuelta a Chihuahua in 2007.

At the Tour of Qatar in 2010 he crashed during the second stage and broke his collar bone for the third time, requiring surgery to repair it. In his recent years he has been plagued with problems resulting from colitis, a condition in which the colon becomes inflamed. “For too long now I have been struggling with colitis," says the 26-year-old. "I am getting better at managing it but at this point it is not improving fast enough for me to continue at this professional level in the sport of cycling - I love the sport of cycling so to only be able to perform at 50% of my best because of my health has been very frustrating."

Jens Voigt abandons Tour of Britain

German rider Jens Voigt, one of the most popular characters on the professional cycling circuit, has abandoned the Tour of Britain during a rain-soaked and wind-swept first stage.

The 39-year-old LeopardTrek rider had become caught up in a crash involving several riders and his decision to quit was announced by organisers at 13:15. The team announced at 15:32 that he was waiting to have a suspected broken finger X-rayed in hospital, then in a website update later in the afternoon confirmed that the finger is broken and that Voigt will require an operation to repair it.

Voigt's move leaves the Luxembourg-based team without a leader; as one of their strongest riders, this may prove disastrous and is the latest in a series of unfortunate recent events including Andy Schleck's forced departure from the Grand Prix Cyclistes of Québec and Montréal with chronic tooth ache and a disappointing Vuelta a Espana.

"He was our guy for the general classification here,” said directeur sportif Torsten Schmidt on the team's website. “He had a good chance for a strong showing because the time trial in this race can be so decisive."

Meanwhile, Sky's Steve Cummings - who was also in the crash - continued to race after receiving attention by race medics.