Mancebo among latest Tour of California crash victims

<p>PASADENA — Lance Armstrong’s continuing comeback has prompted increased media exposure for the Tour of California. But the added attention has also placed cycling’s omnipresent and greatest danger into the spotlight.</p><p>Following an accident-free sixth stage, several riders crashed in Stage 7 from Santa Clarita to Pasadena. Some crash participants returned to the race, some didn’t. Illness ended other cyclists’ rides and by the end of the stage, the day’s starting field of 106 was reduced to 97.</p><p>Occasional deaths have occurred in cycling crashes, but the most common cycling injury is a fractured clavicle. It has prompted one of the sport’s axioms: “There are two kinds of cyclists, those who have broken their collarbones and those who are about to.”</p><p>The most serious departure Saturday was Francisco Mancebo of Spain. The Rock Racing rider who won the first stage and led the race’s best climber’s competition suffered a concussion as well as a broken hand and elbow after crashing on a descent.</p><p>In the fourth and fifth stages, a total of six riders left the race after crashes, including two of the sport’s most well-known riders, Kim Kirchen (Columbia-Highroad) of Luxembourg and Oscar Freire (Rabobank) of Spain. Both riders sustained injuries that will prevent them from competing in important upcoming spring races.</p><p>Freire, a three-time former world road champion, will miss Milan-San Remo and Tirreno-Adriatico, both key races and often claimed by strong sprinters like Freire.</p><p>According to team representatives, Kirchen will not be able to defend his 2008 title in Flèche Wallonne, another traditional European spring race.</p><p>Christian Vande Velde, the fourth-place finisher in the 2008 Tour de France, who finished ninth in the seventh stage, explained the rash of crashes.</p><p>“It’s a horrible fact that in the spring, a lot of guys haven’t been training together for very long and they’ve been used to riding thousands of miles on their own,” Vande Velde said. “And then they get thrown back into racing and their skills aren’t up to par, or they are nervous.”</p><p>Vande Velde’s team, Garmin-Slipstream, as well as Astana and Quick-Step, are the only teams among the 17 Tour of California squads with full complements of eight riders left on their respective teams.</p><p>“A lot of guys are really tired, so people make silly mistakes,” said Vande Velde, who finished third in the Tour of California last year and is 18th overall this year. “It’s a really horrible thing, but it just happens. Every spring there is a bad crash and it’s unfortunate.</p><p>“Also, in California they have those raised dots (reflecting lane dividers) everywhere, and those things cause a lot of accidents. They’re mine fields.”</p><h3>MORE SNOW ON HORIZON</h3> <p>Race officials had sections of the Stage 4 course plowed to remove ankle-deep snow as the route entered lower levels of the Sierra Nevada.</p><p>The final stage Sunday includes the climb of Mount Palomar (elevation 5,123 feet), and race officials reported snow but dry roads on the mountain. A race scouting party will view the course prior to the stage.</p><h3>WELCOME TO AMERICA</h3> <p>A public relations representative from the French team AG2R distributed a press release Saturday detailing the team’s thoughts about its first time competing in the United States.</p><p>“Incidentally, the profile of the race slightly resembles that of Paris-Nice and this Tour of California should be excellent preparation for this upcoming French race, which is only a few weeks away,” said Julien Jurdie, the team’s sports manager.</p><p>The release touts the team’s guidance by experienced riders Cyril Dessel, Stephane Goubert, Tadej Valjavec and Martin Elmiger. Unmentioned is Rinaldo Nocentini, winner of the seventh stage.</p><h3>BEWARE OF THE TIME CUT</h3> <p>Teams were given a reminder in the official race communique distributed with results that riders “falling outside of the time cut (9 percent of the leader) on the road will be asked to abandon.”</p>