Michael Rogers leads Columbia-HTC. (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Team Columbia-HTC's Michael Rogers crashed heavily during the rainy stage to Barcelona on Thursday. After the Australian limped to the finish line some 13 minutes behind stage winner Thor Hushovd, most were speculating his Tour de France was over.
The three-time world champion was lucky to escape without any broken bones, and should be fit to start stage seven on Friday, according to his team.
Rogers was positioned behind Heinrich Haussler on a roundabout when the Cervélo rider slipped on the slick, wet road and crashed, leaving Rogers with no place to go but down. Garmin-Slipstream's Tyler Farrar also went down in the same crash, as did several others.
It was just one of many crashes on the stage, yet remarkably all riders who started the 181.5km stage finished eventually. Kenny Van Hummel and Jonathan Hivert (Skil-Shimano) were the last men to come across the line, with Van Hummel assuming the mantle of "lanterne rouge" as last man on GC thanks to today's finish.
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