Lance Armstrong remains 4th, high-profile riders caught in crashes at Tour de France

Armstrong avoids crashes at Tour de France

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Lance Armstrong was happy to simply finish the first stage of the Tour de France in one piece after several other high-profile riders crashed.

Armstrong has had his share of crashes since returning to competition last season, breaking a collarbone last year and injuring his left elbow in May, but avoided the three crashes Sunday that marred the 138.9-mile stage between Rotterdam and Brussels.

The 38-year-old Texan, the winner of seven consecutive Tours from 1999 to 2005, held his nerves when a group of riders crashed in front of him and stopped just in time to avoid a fall. His biggest rival, defending champion Alberto Contador, scraped up a leg bumping a bike in front as he braked.

Armstrong is fourth overall after finishing third last year. He leads Contador by 5 seconds after the Sunday stage won by Italy’s Alessandro Petacchi.

“That was total mayhem, definitely in the finish,” Armstrong told reporters at his bus, where he signed dozens of autographs surrounded by a crowd of buoyant fans.

“But actually all day. Typical first stage, everybody wants to be in front, everybody is nervous for crashes. We even had a dog running in the group in the beginning that caused a big crash with a couple of our guys.”

Giro d’Italia winner Ivan Basso and third-place David Millar fell off their bikes after the dog ran into the peloton.

“Probably the most dangerous thing today was the public. I crashed early on because there were moments the public came leaning right out into the road,” said Millar, who banged his knee but escaped uninjured. “But we were pretty lucky, if there was the usual wind there would have been absolute carnage.”

Armstrong’s teammates, Andreas Kloeden, Levi Leipheimer and Janez Brajkovic, were among the several high-profile riders who crashed.

“Everybody is OK. It just shows how crazy it’s going to be on Tuesday,” the cancer survivor said about the race’s third stage that will feature seven dangerous and treacherous cobblestone sectors. “Same situation, very small roads. A lot of turns, the nerves and the intensity will be high.”

Armstrong also said the large amount of people on the roads was a real problem.

“Millions and millions on the road, it’s a blessing and a curse,” Armstrong said. “It’s so great to have so many supporters and it also makes the guys super nervous.”

Petacchi, who was stripped of his five stage wins in the 2007 Giro d’Italia for excessive use of an asthma drug, claimed his first win on the Tour in seven years.

Competing in his first Tour since 2004, he won his fifth stage overall ahead of Australia’s Mark Renshaw and Norway’s Thor Hushovd.

The overall standings remained unchanged with Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland leading Germany’s Tony Martin by 10 seconds. Millar was third, 20 seconds off the pace, ahead of Armstrong, who was another 2 seconds back.

Armstrong crossed in 55th place, Contador was 44th and Cancellara, who also crashed, trailed in 130th. They were given the same time as Petacchi under race rules that award riders in the pack the same time if a crash takes place in the main group within the last two miles.

“At the end I couldn’t do anything. I had to brake hard, and ended up doing a bit of a somersault once I landed,” said Cancellara. “Now with the time passing I feel like my shoulder and my whole left side are hurting.”

Armstrong impressed all pundits with a strong performance Saturday in the prologue, when he beat his bitter rival and former teammate Contador by 5 seconds. Contador played down the importance of this minor gap and Armstrong agreed.

“Five seconds in the scope of three weeks is terribly nothing. I don’t want to instil the rivalry any more than it already is,” Armstrong said when asked about the psychological advantage he now has on Contador.

RadioShack sports director Johan Bruyneel however said Armstrong’s powerful display was a good omen for the rest of the race.

“For Lance it was a morale-boosting thing,” Bruyneel said. “It was his first good time trial since his return and it was the first time he beat Contador. He was very happy.”

The first crash in the build-up to the sprint happened in a turn when Mark Cavendish and Jeremy Hunt collided. Cavendish was at the heart of a controversy last month at the Tour of Switzerland where he was made responsible of a massive crash after he suddenly changed his line just before the finish line.

“It’s bike racing. I don’t know what happened there. I’m OK,” said Cavendish, who won six stages in last year.

On Monday, the riders faced a 125-mile ride from Brussels to Spa that followed some parts of the Walloon Arrow and Liege-Bastogne-Liege one-day classics.