Team CSC's Jens Voigt and Andy Schleck crashed during Wednesday's Trofeo Soller, part of the Challenge Illes Balears, which was won by Paolo Bettini. Voigt had to abandon the race and will not start in tomorrow's Trofeo Calvia.
"I lost quite a bit of skin on the left side of my body and sustained some deep cuts in my hand and around my knee, but it wasn't any worse than the doctors were able to stitch it all back together," commented Voigt, who will use the coming days to do some training instead of racing. "Luckily I didn't hurt my shoulder but I'm now at the point where the only thing on my body which isn't hurting is my bad shoulder."
Team CSC's young talent Andy Schleck was in a break with Thomas Dekker of Rabobank, when he had to hit the brakes pretty hard in order to avoid crashing into a stray motorbike. "I lost some skin but there were no broken bones so I'm fine and was able to finish the race," the younger Schleck said. "We were 45 seconds ahead of the favourites' group on the descent before the final five-kilometre climb so of course it was bad luck. But I'll try again another day."
Andy Schleck is now looking ahead in the race calendar. "I've trained hard all winter and during the first training camp, so I feel strong right now. I hope to be able to make some good results in GP Chiasso and the Tour of Georgia," he said.
At the Trofeo Soller, his older brother, Fränk Schleck, was in a group right behind Bettini and finished fifth - 25 seconds behind the winner Paolo Bettini (Quick Step).
"Fränk did well on the last climb but didn't want to risk anything on the descent, when Bettini went full speed ahead. We'd already suffered two crashes today," said sports director Scott Sunderland, referring to the fact that both Jens Voigt and Andy Schleck had to bite the dust in today's 150-kilometer stage.
