Competitions

Tour de France, Stage 2: Complete Chaos

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Parent Category: Competitions

Category: Tour de France 2010

Published on Monday, 05 July 2010 19:36

Written by Luca Salvatelli

Four of the BMC Racing Team's eight riders – including world champion Cadel Evans – finished with the lead group Monday following a chaotic, rainy Stage 2 of the Tour de France run on narrow Belgian roads.

Evans involved in crash

Evans, Alessandro Ballan, Brent Bookwalter and Karsten Kroon crossed the line with the soft-pedaling peloton 3:56 behind solo stage winner Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step). Evans described the crash that involved him and teammates George Hincapie and Mauro Santambrogio - all of whom have road rash but nothing broken. "It was a straight road – downhill – with oil or whatever on it and the whole peloton went down," he said. "Sorry to the public for not racing. But it would not have been fair to the many who were injured."

Burghardt in breakaway

Hincapie crashed twice in 300 meters and finished more than five minutes down from the pack, along with teammates Marcus Burghardt, Steve Morabito and Santambrogio. Burghardt was earlier part of an eight-man breakaway that enjoyed a seven-minute lead before breaking apart with 40 kilometers to go. "We are glad Cadel and Brent made it back – especially Brent – because his place is important for the position of our team car on another technical stage tomorrow," BMC Racing Team Directeur Sportif John Lelangue said.