Two Crashes close to the Finishing Line of Tour of California, Stage 1

The first stage of Amgen Tour of California started quietly in the Californian sunshine this morning. A few miles into the race four riders broke loose from the pelton:

Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank), Chad Beyer (BMC), Marc De Maar (United Healthcare) and Paul Mach (Bissell)

The four riders kept their leading position until a few miles before the finishing line when they were caught by a raging train lead by Mark Cavendish’s team HTC.

The stage which had been pretty calm and uneventful ended with two crashes within the last 3 kilometers before the finishing line. Tom Boonen was one of the unlucky riders hitting the tarmac, but he did not lose time. Reports also indicate that Stuart O’Grady went down.

As far as we know at this moment none of the Team Radioshack riders were involved in any of the two crashes.
(UPDATE: Team Radioshack reported that Chris Horner did crash but said: “Horner did crash but is fine – all others safe and sound. Stage 1 is in the books”)

Team Radioshack rode the stage wisely, not wasting too much energy on this relatively flat first stage, saving energy for the mountains tomorrow and the upcoming time trial. Both Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer seemed relaxed, enjoying the first day of Tour of California.

Shortly after the race Lance Armstrong commented the day via Twitter: “St 1 done here @AmgenTourofCali. I was blown away by the amount of spectators along the route – impressive! Congrats to Cav.”

Top Ten Results on Stage 1
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Columbia
2 Juan Jose Haedo (Den) Saxo Bank
3 Alexander Kristoff (USA) BMC
4 Robbie Hunter (USA) Garmin-Transitions
5 Jonathan Cantwell (Aus) Fly V
6 Marcus Burghart (USA) BMC
7 Guillaume Boivin (Can) SpiderTech by Planet Energy
8 Andreas Stauff (Bel) Quick Step
9 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Quick Step
10 Thomas Leezer (Ned) Rabobank

More results as soon as we receive confirmation.

By Jens Christensen, editor