Milram's Christian Knees was one of a group of unlucky riders to crash during the opening stage of the five-day Vuelta a Andalucía. The 26 year-old went down while helping chase an escape group on the rain-soaked road and landed hard in a ditch. "Fortunately I only got a couple of scrapes from my somersault into the ditch," Knees said. "It rained all day and I just slipped away on the slippery road while chasing." Milram had been involved in the leading the chase up to that point. "But after more and more riders went down on the curving and hilly road, we just let the escapees go and the rest of us rode together to the finish. It was simply too dangerous," Knees noted.