Ivan Basso crashed during the stage but carried on(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Liquigas-Cannondale's Ted King works to pull Ivan Basso back into the race at Paris-Nice(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Teammates stop for Ivan Basso and Paolo Longo Borghini(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Medical assistance for Liquigas-Cannondale(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The second stage of Paris-Nice was a bit of a disaster for the Liquigas-Cannondale team, but luckily its general classification contender Ivan Basso at least escaped serious injury when he went down 72km into the stage.
The team announced via Twitter that the Italian sustained only bruises to his elbow and abrasions following the incident which also took down Paolo Longo Borghini. The latter was also cleared of fractures, having a bruised collarbone.
However, the team is now out of contention for the overall classification, with Basso losing nearly 11 minutes on the stage.
The Lampre-ISD team was also caught out in the split of the peloton which happened in the feed zone halfway through the stage. Damiano Cunego lost 2:29, having had to chase back from a flat tire at an inopportune moment.
"Our riders were not able to react to the attack, knowing that the moment was delicate because of strong winds," said directeur sportif Maurizio Piovani. "From the feed zone on we tried to chase, but there was no way to get back on the lead group. Cunego also faced a puncture, and in that case we coped well with the incident, but it is bad not being able to join the front group."
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