As Spaniard Alberto Contador waited on Tuesday for a private plane to fly him to Madrid, Australian Mat Hayman was on the train home from Besancon to his base in Belgium.

Hayman (Orica-GreenEDGE) was still in deep thought about how his Tour debut ended.

But as Orica-GreenEDGE head sports director Matt White said of the ACT rider’s decision to stop with an hour to go in Monday’s tenth stage through the Vosges mountains from Mulhouse to La Planche des Belles Filles: “He just had a bad day.

“There were some mountains that are a lot harder for him than the Alps or Pyrenees and they are consecutive climbs right after kilometre zero [the start].

“He was in trouble from the first climb and lost contact after the way the race went, with Contador crashing and dangerous breakaways going.

"He never made contact. He stopped when he knew there was no way he would make the time limit.”

It was not lost on White that with Hayman aged 36, this Tour may have been his first and last.

"We are disappointed for him, and it's his first Tour de France,” White said. “And it might be his last. We just don’t know.”

For Contador, who fractured his tibia in a crash with 94km to go in Monday’s tenth stage and left the Tour four kilometres later, rehabilitation awaits.

After flying back to Madrid on Tuesday in the private plane of team owner Oleg Tinkoff, Contador said a medical check-up revealed he would not need surgery.

"The doctor told me that surgery would increase the trauma that the knee has suffered and delay recovery even more,” Contador said in a team statement.

“The good news is that I have no tendon or ligament injuries and the fracture is in the best possible site.”