Alberto Contador admitted yesterday that he will not be able to compete at the Vuelta a Espana, which begins on August 23.
The Spaniard was forced out of the Tour de France just over a week ago on Bastille Day.
The two-time Tour winner crashed hard on a descent and suffered a broken shinbone.
He had hoped to join fellow former Tour winner Chris Froome at the Vuelta after the Briton also crashed out of the Tour a few days earlier with a broken hand and wrist.
But Contador took to Twitter to say such hopes were now deflated.
“Bad day today, there is a complication in the scarring of the injuries, I don’t have a date for when I can climb back on a bike. Goodbye to the Vuelta,” he said.
Contador won the Vuelta in 2008 and 2012, the year Froome finished fourth in that race.