Cleaning Up Yesterday's Mess

Two important tidbits from Velonews today, clearing up some of the carnage from yesterday's stage. I didn't want to talk about the crash until we knew who was going to withdraw from the race. The grand total: one rider. Thomas Vaitkus of Discovery is the only rider who couldn't make the Stage Three start. Pretty amazing given the carnage at the end of yesterday's stage. That probably means the rider most affected by the crash, as pointed out by Jason yesterday in the comments, is Thor Hushovd, who failed to earn a single point in the final sprint as he was caught in the crash.

Also, Velonews identified Erik Zabel as the cause of yesterday's crash. Which means Zabel caused Hushovd to earn zero points and later blocked McEwen from getting a clear look at the line. Boonen owes Zabel a beer.