SIMON Yates’ Tour de France is over after his team pulled him out on Sunday night.

The Bury rising star has been hugely impressive on his Tour debut but the magnificent effort finally told when the Australian team Orica-GreenEdge decided enough was enough.

He was only called up to the team on July 1 in place of Daryl Impey who was suspended after failing a drugs test.

Yates completed 15 stages of the 21-stage race and was particularly impessive in the Alps and Vosges Mountains, featuring in the breakaway in the second stage in the Alps on Saturday when he was only caught 5.5km from the summit of Risoul.

The effort took its toll and Orica-GreenEdge decided to withdraw him on Sunday night after he finished the flat stage in the peloton.

The decision for his team leaders was whether they were prepared to risk his health by letting him race in the Pyrenees.

They were not prepared to let him put in any more physical exertions.

"After an impressive debut, Simon Yates will head home to recover, destined for more great things to come," tweeted the 21-year-old's Australia-based team.

Team Sky's Geraint Thomas is now the only British rider left in the race, which finishes on Sunday in Paris.

Thomas and Yates rode together in Saturday's breakaway and said: “He's a talented guy and it was exciting for British cycling to see him up there in his second break on his first Tour.

Team sporting director Matt White said: “For a 21-year-old neo-pro, he contributed every day, everything he could do.

“Making one break in the Tour de France is an achievement but to make a couple and the way he has gone about the whole Tour de France experience is a great sign for the future.

“Yes, it would be nice for him to finish the Tour, but it was a group decision that enough is enough and we have a lot of goals for him in the second half of the season.”