Cadel Evans survives day of crashes and chaos

CADEL Evans admitted to being terrified after seeing a crash that caused more big names to abandon the Tour de France in agony.

Johnny Hoogerland

CADEL Evans survived another day of carnage on the Tour de France, but admitted to being terrified after seeing a crash that caused more big names to abandon the race in agony.

Four riders abandoned the Tour after crashes. Veteran Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov and Belgian Jurgen van den Broeck were admitted to hospital with broken bones.

And furious Tour organisers threw a television car off the race for hitting two riders, throwing one into a barbed-wire fence.

Dutchman Johnny Hoogerland and Juan Antonio Flecha had been part of a five-man breakaway that was vying for victory in the 208km ninth stage from Issoire to Saint-Flour in the Massif Central.

The pair were hit by an overtaking France TV car 35km from home. Vacansoleil rider Hoogerland was sent somersaulting into a fence while Team Sky's Flecha hit the road at full speed.

Remarkably, both riders were able to remount and finish the stage, with Hoogerland claiming the polka-dot King of the Mountains jersey.

Evans was just metres behind the mass pile-up that injured Vinokourov and van den Broeck.

"I came around a blind corner and they were all lying there," Evans said. "I saw a lot of riders on the road and honestly, it really, really frightened me, especially after what happened to Wouter Weylandt at the Giro d'Italia."

Weylandt, a former teammate of Evans, was killed in a race crash on stage three of the Tour of Italy.

Evans started the stage only 1sec behind the leader, Norway's world champion Thor Hushovd.

After Samuel Sanchez of Rabobank took his first win of the season, leading home new yellow jersey man Thomas Voeckler of France, Evans arrived with the peloton and all the big favourites nearly four minutes later. The result left him at third overall at 2:26 behind Voeckler with Spaniard Sanchez second at 1:49. The Schleck brothers Frank and Andy are fourth and fifth respectively at 2:29 and 2:37, while Alberto Contador was 16th at 4:07.

Hoogerland, whose legs and lycra were shredded when he was thrown on to the barbed wire by the impact of the car, showed maturity beyond his years.

"Nobody can be blamed for this," he said. "It's a horrible accident and I was in it. But I said to Flecha: 'We're still alive and Wouter Weylandt died in a crash'."

Vinokourov crashed through a roadside barrier and into trees after misjudging his entry into a sweeping corner on the descent of the Col du Pas de Peyrol, 99km into the 208km stage.

He was rushed to a nearby hospital in Aurillac, where scans revealed a break in his right leg.

"I never thought the Tour de France would all end so dramatically," Vinokourov said in a team media release.

Vinokourov, 37, had previously announced this was to be his final Tour de France and that he would take up a management role next year.

Three-time winner Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) was another who crashed, not once but twice, yesterday, the first time after his handlebars caught the saddle of Katusha rider Vladimir Karpets's bike.

Contador later complained of knee soreness. "It has not been my Tour," he said.

The latest incidents brought to 18 the number of riders from 198 starters to have crashed out of the race in the first nine days. On the stage to Saint-Flour alone 16 needed medical attention for injuries ranging from broken bones to cuts and concussion.

Additional reporting: AFP