massive crash ends vuelta for chris horner

64th Vuelta a España

Stage 4: Venlo to Liège, 224km/139mi

By Cathy Mehl

Chris Horner Audio Interview

Another day of crashes, only this one was significantly worse than the previous two days with many riders going down including Team Astana’s Chris Horner, Alexandr Vinokourov and Assan Bazayev.  Riding near the front a rider slipped out on a wet roundabout curve, setting off a chain reaction crash that sent riders flying in every direction.  Only six riders initially made it through the corner to contest the finish—three Team Columbia-HTC riders and three from Quick-Step with André Greipel (Columbia) able to take the sprint win with plenty of day-light between himself and Quick Step's Wouter Weylandt.  Medical reports have Vinokourov needing stiches on his left elbow. He also suffered scars and bruises upon the left hip, but will be able to start Stage 5. Unfortunately Horner's injuries were worse. He has a confirmed undisplaced fracture of the left metacarpal IV (hand), hematoma of the right hip and a deep cut in the upper lip. In a season plagued with injuries for the bold American rider, Horner will receive medical treatment and then fly home to the United States on Wednesday. Team Astana will miss him greatly in the rest of the race.

A group of some 40 riders that were held up by the crash arrived almost one-minute after Greipel’s victory with a slow, steady flow of injured riders being nursed to the finish line by their teammates over the next eight minutes including our injured riders.  Race leader Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) hit the deck, too, but because the crash happened within 3km of the finish line, everyone will get the same time and the Swiss rider will retain his gold leader’s jersey another day.

A break of four riders stayed away during the stage, including the very active cyclo-cross star Lars Boom of Rabobank and Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil). Despite dismal racing conditions the crowds still turned out to cheer the peloton of 197 as they arrived in Belgium. Riding on the roads familiar to some from the classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège race, the four riders built a large gap of more than 14 minutes as they rode the famous climbs, gathering sprint and mountain points throughout the day.  The wet roads played part in many of the smaller crashes during the stage, bringing down many riders in the treacherous conditions.   As the peloton rolled through the finish line for the first time before going out for a final lap in Liège, the breakaway was caught and more attacks ensued in the final 18km but the peloton rolled as one in the closing kilometers until the crash brought down some 50 riders and disrupted the drive to the line. 

Wednesday is a Rest Day, which might be more well-deserved than ever before at this point in a Grand Tour.  The peloton will travel to Barcelona to move la Vuelta back to home soil.   Small climbs dot the profiles for stages 5 and 6 before the next race against the clock on stage 7. 

Beyond the Finish Line: Liège has been known as an important center for gunsmithing since the Middle Ages and the arms industry is still strong with the headquarters of FN Herstal. But more importantly, the region is now known for production of water, beer and chocolate.

Top Ten Results

1 André Greipel (Ger) Columbia-HTC 5:43:05

2 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step

3 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Columbia-HTC

4 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Columbia-HTC

5 Marco Velo (Ita) Quick Step 0:00:09

6 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quick Step 0:00:15

7 Adam Hansen (Aus) Columbia-HTC 0:00:22

8 Jürgen Roelandts (Bel) Silence-Lotto 0:00:28

9 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Milram 0:00:33

10 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Milram

Team Astana Results

53 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) 0:00:51

109 Daniel Navarro (Spa) 0:04:01

110 Jesús Hernández (Spa)  

111 José Luis Rubiera (Spa)

115 Michael Schär (Swi)  0:04:33

116 Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz)

133 Maxim Iglinsky (Kaz)  0:04:51

184 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) 0:08:12

191 Chris Horner (USA) 0:08:15

General Classification on Stage 4

1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Saxo Bank

2 Gregory Henderson (NZl) Columbia-HTC 0:00:06

3 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Milram 0:00:08

4 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step 0:00:09

5 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Columbia-HTC 0:00:11

6 André Greipel (Ger) Columbia-HTC

7 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Slipstream 0:00:12

8 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank 0:00:14

9 Jens Mouris (Ned) Vacansoleil

10 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas 0:00:16

Team Astana on General Classification

20 Chris Horner (USA) 0:00:23

34 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) 0:00:28

35 Michael Schär (Swi)

41 Daniel Navarro (Spa) 0:00:30

49 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) 0:00:32

57 Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz) 0:00:36

96 Maxim Iglinsky (Kaz) 0:00:53

103 José Luis Rubiera (Spa) 0:00:55

138 Jesús Hernández (Spa) 0:01:16