A crash in the final 20km of today’s first stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné ended the chances of Saxo Bank’s sprinters, with Baden Cooke being brought down and Juan Jose Haedo delayed behind the incident. The only member of the Danish team to reach the finish with the 55-strong front group was Anders Lund, who finished in 15th position.
”It was a stressful stage finish and Baden (Cooke) hit the asphalt with 20km to go,” said Lund after the stage. “Fortunately, he crashed at low speed and he only suffered minor bruises but we were actually hoping for him today to make a good result. However, he will get another shot tomorrow.”
Haedo finished in a small group 2’49” behind the stage winner; after picking himself up off the road, Cooke finished in a group 5’37” back.
The crash happened just as the peloton was reeling in a five-man break and the speed was too high for delayed riders to get back to the front group. With none of the overall contenders willing to commit their team to a chase this early in the race the escapees had been more than 9 minutes ahead in the first third of the stage. Saxo Bank had taken it upon itself to work to bring them back in the stage’s mid part, before giving up the chase after getting no help from the other teams.
Saxo Bank entered the Dauphiné with the intention of chasing stage wins with spriners Haedo and Cooke. With the Tour de France team riding next week’s Tour of Switzerland and many riders still recovering from injuries and the Giro d’Italia, the Danish team started the Dauphiné with seven riders instead of eight.
After having both its sprinters brought down or delayed by the late crash, Saxo Bank finished the stage with no return for the work it put in.
Lund himself is confident about his own form and hopes to get a result somewhere in the race. “Personally, I am hoping to hit the right breakaway and taking a stage victory,” he concluded.