Julich crashes out

In Saturday's first long time trial of this year's Tour de France, Team CSC suffered a great loss to its roster as Bobby Julich crashed on a roundabout, injuring his right hand. The American was taken to hospital.

"There are apparently no fractures," CSC team director Alain Gallopin said. "Nevertheless, they will keep him overnight and he will have a little surgery to clean the wound properly. You could see the bone and the tendons, so the wound is rather deep.

Gallopin added that the crash did not happen out of a lack of concentration of his rider. "He knew the course and has the experience of riding fast even in corners, but there was a lot of gravel at that particular junction, as people walked over the graveled sidewalk, and some of it ended up on the road. His wheel just slid," he added.

It wasn't a successful day for the Danish team overall, as their best rider, pre-race favourite David Zabriskie, finished 13th, almost two minutes down of stage winner Serguei Gonchar (T-Mobile). Jens Voigt finished last, 10 minutes slower than the Ukrainian, and CSC lost its place near the top of the teams classification.