Spezialetti abandons after crash

Alessandro Spezialetti (Lampre) crashed after 50 km of racing. Tour de France doctor Gérard Porte immediately told team director Giuseppe Martinelli to take Spezialetti to hospital because the wound he had on his lip looked to be serious. Spezialetti had to abandon the race but, in the hospital of Epinal, he did not need stitches. He came back to the team hotel in the evening with doctor Marco Pallini and will be back in Italy tomorrow.

Steve Zampieri (Phonak) was another rider who abandoned today, suffering the effects of an earlier crash.