Alberto Contador crashes on stage one of the Tour de France (video)

Heavy crash for Tour de France contender Alberto Contador leaves him with shoulder injury and ripped kit, but he carries on

Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) after crashing on stage 1 of the 2016 Tour de France (Watson)

(Image credit: Watson)

La chute d'@albertocontador / The fall of @albertocontador ! #TDF2016 pic.twitter.com/P9A6OxkZ6w

— Le Tour de France (@LeTour) July 2, 2016

Alberto Contador's Tour de France did not start well on Saturday, as the Spanish contender of Team tinkoff was caught up in a crash with 75km to go on stage one.

Contador came down hard with Sky's Luke Rowe and BMC's Brent Bookwalter on a central reservation after a roundabout as the pace of the peloton had been wound up to chase a five-man escape group.

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The 2007 and 2009 Tour winner picked himself quickly after the incident, but had lost a lot of skin on his right shoulder, clearly visible under ripped kit.

After changing his bike, Contador was joined by several of his Tinkoff team-mates and others caught up in the crash to chase back onto the peloton.

>>> Tour de France 2016: Latest news, reports and info

The bunch slowed up, and Contador soon caught back up – but only time will tell whether the injury will have any further effect on the 33-year-old's Tour. He received attention from the race doctor in the medical car and later changed a damaged shoe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLwZoTGhDyk

Geraint Thomas (Sky) was another rider who chased back on with Contador's group after the Welshman had suffered a rear puncture, necessitating a wheel change from neutral service.

The stage was won by Mark Cavendish, claiming the first Tour de France yellow jersey of his illustrious career.

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Nigel Wynn
Former Associate Editor

Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.