LILLE, France (Reuters) -Italian Filippo Ganna became the first rider to abandon this year's Tour de France following a crash, organisers said on Saturday.

The Ineos-Grenadiers rider, one of the favourites for Wednesday's individual time trial, crashed early during the first stage and withdrew around 70km from the finish line in Lille.

(Reporting by Vincent Daheron, writing by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ed Osmond)