It’s often said the Tour de France can’t be won in the first week but the race can be lost. That has possibly rung true for a number of favourites this year with many losing time or simply having to abandon the race. As the Grand Boucle heads into semi-mountainous territory this weekend, the first week’s mostly flat terrain has had a number of causalities with RadioShack and Team Sky Procycling suffering amongst the biggest losses so far.
Team RadioShack:
The American team came to the race with four protected leaders. However, they lost Jani Brajkovic who came into the race with high hopes, only to be seen leaving in an ambulance on stage five after touching wheels with another rider. The Slovenian was diagnosed with a brain concussion and fracture of the collarbone. Brajkovic said “I don’t remember anything of the crash. I remember the moment I was about to crash and then the next thing I remember was our team doctor asking me if I thought I could continue. But I wasn’t aware of where I was and which race I was in.”
The team’s bad luck continued when Chris Horner crashed with 35 kilometres to go in yesterday’s stage. While the American was able to finish the stage some twelve minutes after the peloton, he was taken to hospital for inspection. Following assessment, it was decided that he would not start today. “When I got there, he was lying in a ditch and was very shaken,” said team manger Johan Bruyneel yesterday evening. “It was obvious he’d [been] hit very hard. He finished the stage and I think basically he’s ok physically. He has a few bruises and swelling. But we’re taking him to the hospital to have a scan….he doesn’t really know where he is right now or what happened.” Horner will now stay in hospital over the weekend, where his progress will be monitored.
Two crashes at decisive times of the race has seen the team’s third leader Levi Leipheimer lose 4’29” so far, which leaves Andreas Kloden as the only leader still in contention.
Team Sky:
Following on from his victory in the Critérium du Dauphiné just before the Tour de France, Bradley Wiggins was said to be in the form of his life. However, the Brit won’t have the chance to test that form as he was involved in the same crash as Horner. Wiggins left the race with a broken collarbone, and was expected to be operated on this morning.
Quick Step:
Tom Boonen was seen climbing into his team car midway through stage seven. Boonen struggled to recover from injuries he sustained on a crash during stage five. “I’m very disappointed,” said the former World Champion. “I prepared well for this Tour and I think I could have definitely had some chances to go for it.” The Belgian has six career victories in the event and won the green points jersey in 2007.
Other favourites who’ve had near misses in the race include Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) and Robert Gesink (Rabobank). Defending champion Contodar lost time to a crash on stage one and trails the yellow jersey of Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) by 1’42”. He crashed again during stage six but got through it relatively unscathed. Despite numerous falls, Gesink in still in prime position, only twenty seconds down on the General Classification and currently leads the young rider competition.
Many have said that the first mountains will cause the race to settle down, with the GC being spread out and less riders having an incentive to take risks. It will also mean that the sprinters’ teams will fight less hard towards the end of stages, although there will be the usual jostling for position for the intermediate gallops. The opening week is traditionally the most dangerous of the Tour and all in the peloton will hope that the kind of incidents seen this week will become less and less frequent in the days ahead.