Vande Velde crashes in Dauphiné

Christian Vande Velde of Team CSC ended his day with a visit to the hospital after crashing in the second stage of the Dauphiné Libéré. He was able to finish the stage, but went to get further examinations last night.

"Christian was involved in a bad crash on the first descent and he was pretty beat up. He hurt his head and his back quite badly," said team doctor Piet Daneels on the team's website, team-csc.com. "But the initial examination shows that he's okay. Of course he was a bit shaken up afterwards, but we'll give him another check-up at the hospital this evening. My initial estimation is that he will be able to continue, but let's wait and see."

The American finished 107th, nearly nine and a half minutes down. He had to abandon the Volta a Catalunya last month after a crash.