In the first stage of the Tour de l'Avenir, Liberty Seguros rider Sergio Paulinho was the victim of a crash with 20 kilometres to go, limping home in 124th place and finishing 4'08 behind stage winner Lars Bak.
According to statement from the team, the crash happened when the peloton was chasing down the lead group of five riders towards the end of the race; a touch of wheels with a CSC rider in front of him brought the Portuguese rider down, whose knee and left elbow took the brunt of the impact. Thankfully, the Athens silver medallist is not seriously hurt, and is more than likely to start the following stage from Argentré-du-Plessis to Sainte-Scolasse-sur-Sarthe.
