After the first stage of the Tour de France today a large number of riders had to be worried as they were looked at by their team doctors. Big crashes in the last kilometer and early in the stage knocked down many riders. Most of Team RadioShack hit the deck. Janez Brajkovic fell in the mass pile up and took a long time to get to the line. He would be okay though.
“Wow, amazing crowds today. Crashed in the final but nothing serious,” noted Brajkovic on Twitter.
More serious was Levi Leipheimer. He explained his crash and did not sound pleased with a certain dog owner.
“Hit the deck today after someone brought their dog to the race w/o a leash,” said Leipheimer.
Leipheimer crashed out on stage one of the 2003 tour and crashed out with a broken wrist last year. Both those events came to mind when he tweeted this ominous note.
“Just had some x-rays taken. . .”
Thankfully, a few tense minutes he eased our worries by saying “I’m very relieved to report that despite a lot of pain in my wrist nothing is broken!! Pain I can handle.”
It is a good reminder that at anytime any contender could be out of the tour. Lance Armstrong, himself, feels the tension.
“That was S-T-R-E-S-S-F-U-L!! Managed to make it to the finish in one piece. Amazing how much more intense the TdF is vs any other race.”
Have fun guys. Only 20 more stages to go.
By Thomas Mendonsa, staff writer
go on Leipeimer
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