Charlotte Criterium crash adds to Toyota-United injury woes

Caleb Manion at the Tour de Toona in July (Image credit: Mark Zalewski)

A crash that took out Caleb Manion less than 15 miles from the finish of Saturday night's Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium dashed the hopes of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team. The 26-year-old Australian suffered a fractured right clavicle (collar bone) and will miss the remainder of the season.

"If we don't have that crash with Caleb, it's a different race," Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said. "We were pretty deflated after seeing him go down." Just before his crash, Manion was riding in a breakaway of about 15 riders that included his Toyota-United teammate, Chris Wherry. With about 12 laps remaining in the 40-lap, 50-mile race National Race Calendar and U.S.A. Crits Championship Series event, Manion crashed out on one of the eight turns on the 1.2-mile course through Charlotte City Center. "That was a pretty big blow," Willett said. "We just can't seem to avoid misfortune."

At the time of Manion's crash, Toyota-United was working hard to keep Ivan Dominguez – who won this race in its first running in 2004 – in contention for what was hoped to be a field sprint. But Manion's crash demoralized his teammates, Willett said, and decimated the horsepower necessary to bring back a late-race attack by eventual winner Frank Pipp (Health Net presented by Maxxis). Jesse Anthony (Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling) second and Yosvany Falcon (AEG-Toshiba-JetNetwork Professional Cycling Team) was third.