« Stage 2: Steegmans leads self out for win | Main | London Mayor says Tour will return, but when? »
July 09, 2007
Stage 2 crash roundup
Fabian Cancellara: The Guardian says it's a minor wrist injury for Cancellara, but that Lampre's sprint threat, Daniele Bennati was taken to the hospital and will have his hip scanned.
Discovery Channel's George Hincapie and Tomas Vaitkus were also in the thick of the crash. Cathy Mehl reports at ThePaceline.com that Hincapie appears OK and Vaitkus is being checked for a possible broken thumb. Update: Vaitkus “suffered unstable fractures of the right thumb,” and “will undergo surgery this evening and will not start TDF Stage 3.”
T-Mobile team reports that Mark Cavendish “was thrown head-long into the barriers where he lay for some minutes on the tarmac.” Cavendish suffered mostly bruises and is expected to continue in the race.
I still haven't seen anything on Fred Rodriguez, other than Richard Martin's AP photo at right.
CNNSI.com reports that Chris Horner had a front-row seat for the crash:
"Everybody went down, Thor (Hushovd) went down, (Fabian) Cancellara down, (Francisco) Ventoso went down, two guys from my team -- Leif (Hoste) and Freddy Rodriguez -- both crashed," Horner said. "I was behind it ... I started backing off."
“Given the size of the crash and the speed of the pack when it took place, it would be a surprise if all 188 riders who started the stage will be ready to resume on Tuesday morning.”
Posted by Frank Steele on July 9, 2007 in 2007 Stage 2, Chris Horner, Fabian Cancellara, Fred Rodriguez, George Hincapie, Mark Cavendish | Permalink
Comments
Goodness! What a crash!!!
I was searching all over the web for injury reports. Thanks for being so prompt!!
Southern Louisiana Fan!!
Posted by: Gaby at Jul 9, 2007 2:37:54 PM
Why is it so hard to get injusy reports before the day of the next stage? Do the teams try to keep the news quiet or is it just a wait and see mentality?
Posted by: Big Daddy at Jul 9, 2007 3:31:33 PM
No decision has to be made until the sign in for the next stage. In 2003, CSC thought that Tyler H. was DONE after the huge pile-up in stage 1. However he was able to go the next day and ended up winning a stage. Teams will sit on even the worst injuries until the sign in the following day unless, of course, the rider is unable to finish the stage.
Posted by: Phil H. at Jul 9, 2007 4:13:52 PM
Re Rodriguez
Chris Horner mentioned in his VeloNews.tv interview that Rodriguez' collar bone is being looked at, and that Fred looked ok.
http://velonews.com/vntv/
Posted by: pommi at Jul 9, 2007 4:35:32 PM
Yeah, for those of us watching from the other side of the planet, some more details would be nice. I guess they don't want to rule anyone out too early...
Posted by: crowlie at Jul 10, 2007 4:08:01 AM
Freddy Rodriguez is a vital part of the race for my favourite, Robby McEwan, and I hope for both of their sakes that he recovers fully. He was sorely missed when he retired from the race last year...
Posted by: Paul Claven at Jul 10, 2007 5:58:32 AM
"Reviewing the crash, it was in fact Zabel who touched his front wheel with Boonen's rear wheel. Both riders stayed up right but a chain-reaction followed when a Liquigas rider fell to his right, taking down a T-Mobile rider and two Lampres."
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2007/tour07/?id=results/tour072
Posted by: legman at Jul 10, 2007 4:57:01 PM
