Sanchez wins action-packed stage

Luis Leon Sanchez
12 April 2012

Team Sky's Juan Antonio Flecha and Vacansoleil's Johnny Hoogerland were wiped out by a television vehicle as an incident-packed Tour de France suffered further casualties in the Massif Central.

Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank) won the 208-kilometre ninth stage from Issoire to Saint-Flour, with Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) five seconds behind in second - assuming the yellow jersey from Thor Hushovd in the process - and Sandy Casar (FDJ) third, 13 seconds adrift.

But the main talking points were the overtaking France 2 car which careered into Flecha and Hoogerland - two of the five breakaway riders - with 35km remaining and an earlier crash which saw four riders abandon ahead of Sunday's first rest day.

The route across the extinct volcanoes of the Massif Central included eight categorised climbs. The undulating terrain and damp conditions made the roads treacherous and further crashes followed on an already incident-packed Tour. After 102km a collision occurred on a downhill section involving numerous riders.

Jurgen van den Broeck, Frederik Willems (both Omega Pharma-Lotto) and David Zabriskie (Garmin-Cervelo) hit the road hard and were later forced to abandon, following Astana leader Alexandre Vinokourov out of the race and to hospital in Aurillac.

Vinokourov was reported to have suffered a fractured femur (thigh bone) in his fall, Zabriskie suffered a fractured wrist, Van den Broeck a fractured shoulder blade and Willems a broken collarbone.

Perhaps in trying to avoid the mayhem, Vinokourov, who was banned for blood doping in 2007, overshot a corner and ended up flying into some trees. The controversial Kazakh had to be helped up the slope back to the road side by two team-mates and the race medic, but appeared struggling to find his feet and abandoned.

Vinokourov was riding in what he said would be his final Tour and his career may now have come to a premature end. With Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky), Van den Broeck, Chris Horner, Janez Brajkovic (both RadioShack), Vinokourov, Zabriskie and Tom Boonen (QuickStep) among those to have already withdrawn, the race was without numerous star names.

Flecha and Hoogerland could have followed them after a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre by a French television car on a narrow stretch of road. While apparently trying to avoid a tree, the car clipped Flecha, who slammed to the tarmac, taking escape companion Hoogerland with him.

The Spaniard and the Dutchman were miraculously soon back on their bikes, both nursing ripped jerseys following an incident which had echoes of the moment on Wednesday's fifth stage when a photographer's motorbike clipped Danish rider Nicki Sorensen.

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