Veteran German rider Andreas Kloeden has pulled out of the Tour de France early into the 13th stage, becoming the fourth RadioShack rider to leave the race.

Kloeden hurt his back after crashing earlier in the race, and he then banged his right elbow in a fall on a descend in yesterday's stage.

The 36-year-old German pulled over onto the side of the road about 40 minutes into the 95-mile route from Pau to Lourdes in the Pyrenees. He was slowly riding and struggling before deciding to quit. Klöden was unable to lift his right leg over the bike when he dismounted and received help from the team manager and another staff member who helped him click his foot out of his right pedal.

"This morning before the start I was really motivated to give it a try. As I was not concerned any more with my general classification result, I hoped to take it easy today and tomorrow to give my body the opportunity to recover, having in mind to try to win a stage in the last week of the Tour de France," Klöden told Roadcycling.com and our mobile cycling news sister site Roadcycling.mobi

"Immediately after the start I felt it was impossible to go on. The speed was very high and I was not able to get power out of my legs. It is a pity. My condition was and is still very good, but there is nothing you can do against bad luck. I crashed twice because other riders in front of me took too many risks," Klöden concluded.

Janez Brajkovic, Chris Horner and Yaroslav Popovych had to leave the race after crashes.

The 36-year-old Kloeden had been the designated team leader. His withdrawal means American Levi Leipheimer takes over as RadioShack's leader in the Tour. Leipheimer finished third overall in the 2007 Tour de France.