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A typical TDF Stage 1

Comment: Jens Voigt

I guess you would call that a typical first stage in the Tour de France.

There was a little bit of everything: a nice easy start, a doggy running into the pack and messing things up mid-way through and then tons of crashes in the final.

It was funny but the very first attack of the day turned into the first breakaway. Usually there are a bunch of attacks first. But it was perfect since only three guys got up the road and it was easy for us to control the race. So we just rode at the front riding tempo in front of Fabian Cancellara and his yellow jersey. I don’t know how long Fabian can keep the jersey, but it’s not like we are going to just give up the yellow jersey. It’s too much fun, and hey, sponsors like it too.

But then this dog jumped out into the pack after about 65km and caused a big crash. And suddenly everything got crazy.

RadioShack and Astana came up front and started driving the pace and boy were they nervous! I was like, “Hey boys! Let us do our work here!” But they were worried about more crashes I guess and wanted to stay safe.

The winds calmed down a bit as we neared the finish, but regardless, the finish of the first stage just turned into a “crazy crash final” with just about everyone going down.

About 25km out our director was talking to us a lot, saying, “Guys, you know how to stay out of trouble, make sure you do!”

In moments like that you ABSOLUTELY have to stay in the top 20 or after, say, the 40th place. Places 20 to 40 are just crazy. People are trying to get up to the front or are dropping back. It’s total chaos.

And despite our efforts, Fabian still went down about 800 metres from the line. He actually virtually stopped before the crash, but he had nowhere to go and fell down too. He’s got a pretty sore side, but he just stopped by my room and was smiling though, so I guess he is okay.

Other than all the crashes, it was a tremendous first stage. There was just an ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF PEOPLE all along the way. It was great. But I have to say that the Tour de France organisers did a good job bringing the Tour to Holland. Unlike the Tour of Italy in May, they kept the race on large roads to make it safer.

The roads had nothing to do with all the crashing. It was just the riders getting nervous and all. Like I said, a typical first stage in the Tour de France.

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