Germany's Jan Ullrich pulled out of the Giro d'Italia in the last few kilometres from the finish of the punishing 221-km 19th stage from Pordenone to Passo di San Pellegrino on Friday.
The 1997 Tour de France winner consulted with team director Rudi Pevenage and then climbed into the T-Mobile team car.
Ullrich was in 42nd place in the overall standings, 45:31 behind race leader Ivan Basso of Italy when he abandoned.
He told the Bild website: "I feel a bit tired after three weeks and don't want to endanger my build-up of form ahead of the Tour de France.
"The (Giro) penultimate stage (on Saturday) will be really tough and I didn't want to overstretch myself any more."
