The injury report keeps growing for Slipstream-Chipotle early in the 2008 season.

First it was Magnus Backstedt cracking his right clavicle in the Tour of Qatar last week. On Wednesday, Blake Caldwell went down in a crash in the opening stage of the Étoile de Bessèges in France to fracture his hip. The team is reporting he should be sidelined for about three weeks.

Despite Caldwell’s bad luck, Slipstream-Chipotle snuck two riders into the top 10, with Mike Friedman taking ninth and Jason Donald slotting in for 10th.

Jan Kuyckx (Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner) won the opening sprint ahead of Gianni Meersman (Francaise des Jeux) to take the leader’s jersey going into Thursday’s second stage from Nîmes to Saint Ambroix.