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Zabriskie crashes out of Giro

Published: May. 11, 2008
2008 Giro d'Italia, stage 2: Zabriskie left the race on a stretcher.
2008 Giro d'Italia, stage 2: Zabriskie left the race on a stretcher.
Photo: Graham Watson

VeloNews staff and wire reports

David Zabriskie’s 2008 Giro d’Italia ended Sunday when he was caught at a pileup with about 55km to go in the 207km second stage from Cerfalù to Agrigento.

Zabriskie, 29, went down with several other riders as the peloton approached a railroad crossing.

Zabriskie, who started the day second overall, was knocked off his bike and was unable to rejoin the pack. Doctors immediately attended to the reigning U.S. time trial champion and transported him to a local hospital.

Team officials confirmed to VeloNewsthat Zabriskie suffered a fractured L1 vertabrae, in what was described as a painful, but not a serious injury.

Zabriskie, who wore the yellow jersey in the 2005 Tour de France, played a key role in Slipstream-Chipotle’s victory in Saturday’s team time trial event that delivered the maglia rosa to teammate Christian Vande Velde.

Slipstream’s New Zealand sprinter, Julian Dean, also crashed in a nervous road stage that saw Vande Velde lose the pink jersey by just one second.

Tour de France champion Alberto Contador (Astana), Italian Enrico Gasparotto and Austria’s Christian Pfannberger (both Barloworld) also crashed, but were able to continue the race.