‘Not the way we wanted to start the Tour de France’ – XDS Astana suffer spectacular crash in team time trial

“No fractures or serious injuries for our riders, but Nicolas Vinokourov, Harold Tejada , and Simone Velasco did sustain abrasions and various bruises,” the team reported.

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Velasco was the last-placed rider on the stage, nearly six minutes slower than Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), who claimed the race lead. Nicolya Vinokourov, blood seeping out of wounds on his knee, finished 4:54 down, and Tejada was able to get up quickly to finish 2:46 down.

XDS Astana finished last of the 23 teams, 2:18 behind Visma-Lease a Bike, with Sergio Higuita setting their time for the stage as their quickest rider.

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The Kazakh team weren’t the only ones to suffer a fall: Cofidis had their GC leader Guillaume Martin fall along with Clément Berthet, but both riders finished the stage 3:34 down with scrapes and bruises.