Cadel Evans loses teammate to injury

[ratter]

http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Sport/2 ... 80677.html

Sunday, July 04, 2010 » 04:03pm



Cadel Evans suffered a minor blow in his Tour de France victory bid, losing one of his BMC teammates.




Cadel Evans has suffered a minor blow in his bid to relaunch his Tour de France victory, losing one of his BMC teammates.

Swiss Olympic champion Fabian Cancellara won the 8.9km opening prologue, with most of the big race favourites keeping within touching distance of one another.

Evans finished in 23rd place at 39sec and admitted later that the wet conditions that had hindered many riders starting in the middle of the 198-strong field had prompted him to take his foot off the pedal.

'I certainly took less risks than I would have intended to in the dry,' said the Australian, a two-time runner-up in the race in 2007 and 2008 who finished a disappointing 30th last year.

'But, that's the way it goes. (There were) varying degrees of a bit slippery for everyone, except for the very first few guys. So it was more or less a fair race, and it looks like the best guy won.'

After admitting he 'touched the brakes more times than I normally would have' Evans found out that team-mate Mathias Frank would not be starting again after sustaining a thigh injury.

Frank's first Tour de France campaign lasted less than 10 minutes, the 23-year-old crashing and picking up a muscle thigh injury and a broken finger, after his wheel slipped on a white traffic band in the road.

'It's impossible for him to bend his knee,' his team manager John Lelangue told AFP.

'In his state, he won't be able to start Sunday's stage.'

Britain's Bradley Wiggins, meanwhile, was among the big losers on the day, a surprisingly underwhelming performance in the time trial leaving him 56sec off the pace of Cancellara.

After opting to start early, the Londoner, who finished fourth overall in 2009, paid the price by racing in the rain and losing time to the likes of Armstrong and Contador.

Although disappointed, he waved away concerns.

'I said all along the prologue wasn't the be-all and end-all of this thing for me,' he said. 'I'm just pleased to have got round in one piece, felt good and do what I needed to do.

'I couldn't really push it to the limit on the corners as I couldn't take the risk of losing three or four minutes from a crash.'

[roller]

'It's impossible for him to bend his knee,' his team manager John Lelangue told AFP.

'In his state, he won't be able to start Sunday's stage.'

weak!

he has 2 legs ffs, can't he just use one for the first week?

sounds like just a mere flesh wound to me, nothing serious.

[JV911]

any word on renshaw?

(i'm not looking in the TdF thread as i don't want to see the stage results)

[soc]

Renshaw is fine - Adam Hamsen has withdrawn due to a broken Collarbone.

[JV911]

Renshaw is fine - Adam Hamsen has withdrawn due to a broken Collarbone.

d'oh, that's who i meant...spewing!!!