Sports / Other Sports
McEwen crashes then sprints to Tour stage win
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-07-09 09:03
CANTERBURY, England, July 8 - Australian Robbie McEwen recovered from a
crash to clinch the first stage of the Tour de France, a 203-km ride from
London to Canterbury on Sunday.
The Predictor-Lotto rider, who already has three green jerseys to his
name, outsprinted Norway's Thor Hushovd and Belgian Tom Boonen for his
12th Tour stage victory.
McEwen crashed 21 km from the finish line but was soon back on his bike
with a bruised knee and a sore wrist.
The 35-year-old Australian entered the last straight safe in the bunch
and claimed an impressive win with a late burst of speed.
"I can't believe I've won, the moment I crashed I thought that's that,
and even my Tour could have been over," McEwen told reporters.
"But I pushed through and I've really got to thank my team mates for the
work they did to bring me through."
YELLOW JERSEY
Swiss Fabian Cancellara of the CSC team retained the overall leader's
yellow jersey after finishing comfortably in the peloton.
Briton David Millar, who finished 13th in Saturday's prologue round the
streets of London, took the polka dot jersey for the best climber after a
165-km breakaway and is third overall.
"I just want to say thank you to the British public for the support
they've given us," said Millar.
"I just rode out of my skin today and that was a thank you to everybody
for coming out, that was amazing."
The stage started from Greenwich and went through the county of Kent in
south east England, watched by an estimated two million people.
Millar broke away some seven km after the start and was soon joined by
Frenchmen Stephane Auge and Freddy Bichot, Ukraine's Andriy Grivko and
Belarus's Aleksandr Kuschynski.
The escapees built a six-minute gap with Millar and Grivko being dropped
35 km from the finish line. Cofidis rider Auge then went solo only to be
swallowed by the peloton with 18 km remaining.
British hope Mark Cavendish lost any hope of clinching victory after
mechanical problems forced him to change bike twice in the last 20 km.
Spaniard Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez of the Agritubel team was the first
casualty of the Tour. He was forced to retire with a shoulder injury
after smashing the windscreen of a Caisse d'Epargne car.
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