Tour de France: Petacchi Wins First Stage while Hansen Out after Crash
The first stage of the Tour de France ended with a sprint finish into Brussels by Italian Alessandro Petacchi. Second to make it across the finish line was Mark Renshaw, while Thor Hushovd rode in third.
This win comes amid a total of 4 crashes during the first stage, the first of which involved Mark Cavendish. Afterward, he said that he is okay, but it’s just life. Teammate Tony Martin said that there was a little crash on the last right-hand corner, and he thinks Cavendish was behind it and didn’t have a chance to go for the sprint.
One of the crashes included Aussie Adam Hansen, which left him with a broken shoulder and collarbone. Team owner Bob Stapleton commented that Hansen showed amazing loyalty by finishing the race and working hard toward the end. He had continued riding for the remaining 165km despite the fractures.
Due to these injuries, Hansen won’t be able to continue in the tour. He said that he is very disappointed, as he was really looking forward to this and is upset that the team has to go on with only 8 riders. It was a freak crash, he continued. He said that he had seen something on the road before hitting it and skidding across the field. Most of the riders were able to avoid him, he added, but he hit the back wheel of another rider and crashed.
With only a little ways left to go in the race, one crash occurred that involved a huge group of the riders. Because of this, regulators gave everyone the same finishing time that Petacchi had, so the overall standings didn’t change.
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