Crashes hurt TIAA-CREF

Although Team TIAA-CREF was off to a promising first week (7th on team GC and Will Frischkorn in 13th overall) in the Tour de l'Avenir, three very severe crashes have put an end to the team's performance. "It's just unbelievable the bad luck these guys have had," said team DS Jonathan Vaughters. "There will be a pileup of six riders, and five will be fine, but the one that has to go to the hospital is ours."

Stu Gillespie, who won the best young rider jersey in both the FBD Ras and the Tour de la Martinique, went out with a broken clavicle on stage 3, and now Craig Lewis, who was in 35th overall as one of the youngest in the race, went down on a wet descent and broke his scapula.

"Both riders are good bike handlers, and ride at the front of the bunch, so I'm at a loss as to why this happened to them. I guess bad luck comes in threes?" said Vaughters, referring also to Timmy Duggan's crash on the same descent as Lewis, which knocked Duggan unconscious. "We now have only three riders left, with Will (Frischkorn) having a good shot at top 10 overall. Hopefully things will turn around."