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Italian Damiano Cunego has withdrawn from the Tour de France after injuring himself in a stage 18 crash, the rider's Lampre team announced.

"Cunego won't take part in 19th stage of Tour de France, because of the crash in which was involved during today race," Lampre said after the rider was released from the hospital on Thursday.

The former Giro d'Italia champion required five stitches on his chin and bandages on his chest and arms for cuts after crashing in the first 20 kilometres of racing on stage 18.

"It's a miracle I finished this stage," said Cunego, who came over the finish line with blood dripping from a wound under his chin.

He suffered his third crash of this year's event when his wheels got caught in a rut in the road early on the 196.5km ride from Bourg d'Oisans in the Alps to Saint Etienne.

Thanks to the support of his team, Cunego battled on to finish inside the cutoff limit for late arrivals at 20min 12sec behind stage winner Marcus Burghardt of Germany.

Cunego said part of the reason he was determined to do so was to make sure the four Lampre teammates who accompanied him also stayed in the race.

"My two wheels ended up in a rut in the road and the next thing I knew I was flying to the ground," said Cunego.

"It's not the first time I've crashed in this tour, I've been pretty unlucky."

He added: "I want to really thank my teammates, they waited for me and helped me back although at one point I wasn't sure of finishing within the time limit.

"One of our team managers suggested I should just pull out. I didn't want to as that would have risked my teammates missing the time limit as well."

His mishap on Thursday meant he would have dropped from 14th place overall to 20th at 25:48 behind race leader Carlos Sastre of Spain, ahead of Friday's 19th stage.

AFP / Eurosport