Reigning champion Chris Froome admitted he was "devastated" after being forced out of the Tour de France on Wednesday through injury.
Froome could not carry on after injuring his left wrist Tuesday. His team switched its focus to supporting Richie Porte, who produced an impressive performance on the cobblestones to climb to eighth in the general classification standings.
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Porte finished 20th on Wednesday, almost two minutes behind leader Vincenzo Nibali. But with the help of teammate Geraint Thomas, Porte claimed 43 seconds on Alberto Contador to rise to eighth overall.
Andre Greipel of Germany won Thursday's sixth stage, and Vincenzo Nibali of Italy retained the yellow jersey.
After falling early on Stage 4, Froome crashed twice during the fifth stage. And that was the end.
"I'm devastated to have to pull out of the race. It was the right thing to do after crashing again and I knew that I couldn't carry on," Froome told Team Sky's website.
"I'm going to fly home tonight and over the next few days I'll go for some more scans on my wrist to find out exactly what injuries I've sustained."
Porte, from Australia, did not downplay how much the loss of Froome would hurt Sky but said he is ready to fight for the yellow jersey.
"It's a massive loss losing Chris but he'll back hungrier than ever next year," Porte said.
"Now I have an opportunity to go for as high a GC position as I can.
"It's a relief, personally, to have come through Stages 2 and 5 OK, and I'm looking forward to heading into the mountains now."
Thomas said that as soon as Froome pulled out, he was thinking about how to help Porte.
"We came into the race with a two-pronged attack, and now it's all for Richie. I saw Contador was struggling a bit on the cobbles, so I said, 'Richie, get on my wheel, let's just smash it and see what happens,' " the Welshman said.
"I also really enjoyed it. I was stressing a bit before the race, but once it all broke up and you could take your own line, it wasn't quite as stressful. It was awesome, it was good fun."
Porte paid tribute to teammates Thomas and Bernhard Eisel for helping him through the cobbled sections.
They "were brilliant and really looked after me. This is their type of terrain and it was impressive to see how they operated," he said.
Contributing: Associated Press