Crashes in the opening stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe have put four riders on the sidelines for at least the next few weeks. Juan Carlos Dominguez (Unibet.com) crashed with 10km to go and broke his right collarbone. Two kilometres from the line, Credit Agricole's Saul Raisin went down hard, breaking his left collarbone, briefly losing consciousness and injuring his hip and face.
A crash near the finish involved Panaria's Brett Lancaster and Tyler Farrar (Cofidis). Farrar sustained a fractured left collarbone while Lancaster has injuries to his thorax and shoulder, but nothing broken.
