Graeme Brown won an eventful Tour Down Under stage, as defending champion Andre Greipel crashed out.
Carnage as crash rules out eight riders after windy third stage
Graeme Brown won an eventful third stage of the Tour Down Under, where a crashing fall ruled defending champion Andre Greipel out of the rest of the event.
Greipel, the first stage winner, was one of eight cyclists whose Tour ended early as a result of their injuries from the dramatic crash.
Australian Brown stayed clear of trouble to win the stage, while compatriot Allan Davis did hit the deck but managed to remount and still finish the stage in second to maintain the overall lead.
Lance Armstrong was involved in a 16-man breakaway and eventually finished 32nd in the stage, but clocking the same time as the winner.
Strong winds made the 136 kilometre stage from Unley to Victor Harbor extremely difficult, and a major accident at the 13km mark made matters even worse.
Carnage
Team Columbia's top rider Greipel hit a parked motorbike in a dramatic fall, and his bike then flew out into the oncoming pack and took a number of other cyclists down.
"We've lost more riders in this one stage than we've lost in the 10-year history of the race," race director Mike Turtur said.
Greipel is facing three months on the sidelines after dislocating his shoulder and suffering deep cuts on his elbow.
"He underwent minor surgery on the cut on his elbow and he is scheduled to fly back to Hamburg tomorrow (Friday)," said a team statement.
"It is expected he will be out for around three months."
Australian Baden Cooke went to hospital with severe bruising, while New Zealander Timothy Gudsell suffered a broken right collarbone.
Frenchman Remy Di Gregorio suffered a tailbone injury, while Swiss rider Michael Schar, of Armstrong's Astana team, left the race with nerve damage from a cut on his lower leg.
Leader
Davis, though, managed to get back onto his bike and finish second, keeping him at the head of the Tour but now on the same time as stage winner Brown.
"I knew he (Greipel) was going to hit it so I moved over to the right. He hit it and his bike threw out in front of me," Davis said.
"It was unfortunate because it was at a time when the race was really sweating up.
"I came down but I was able to continue. I lost minutes but I had a great team and without them I wouldn't have got back."
Australian Stuart O'Grady sits in third place overall, while Armstrong is 39th in the field, 29 seconds behind race leader Davis.
"It was hard," said Armstrong. "It wasn't a consistent wind. It was really swirling.
"I felt all right. The high-end intensity I don't have yet, that's the bottom line.
"All in all, I guess the kind of stuff I have to do (to get race fit), I need to do in the race. I've got to work that high end. Like I've said 100 times, I can't do that in training."
Tour Down Under
Stage 3: 1 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank 3hrs 15mins 35secs, 2 Allan Davis (Aus) Quick Step at same time, 3 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team Saxo Bank at same time, 4 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia - High Road at same time, 5 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at same time, 6 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale at same time, 7 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at same time, 8 Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom at same time, 9 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita)Lampre - N.G.C at same time, 10 Mickael Cherel (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux at same time
General classification: 1 Allan Davis (Aus) Quick Step 10hrs 47mins 11secs, 2 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank at same time, 3 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team Saxo Bank at 0.05, 4 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale at 0.14, 5 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - High Road at 0.18, 6 Matthew Wilson (Aus) UniSA at 0.19, 7 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C at 0.20, 8 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at same time, 9 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Slipstream at same time, 10 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Francaise Des Jeux at same time, 11 Mickael Cherel (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux at same time, 12 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia - High Road at same time, 13 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank at same time, 14 Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) Francaise Des Jeux at same time, 15 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale at 0.24
