Portuguese hopeful forced to abandon race after crash.

Stage 1 of the Paris-Nice today witnessed a crash 63 km into the stage involving Rui Costa (Movistar), Tony Gallopin (RadioShack), Lucas Haedo (Cannondale) and Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R). At first it appeared that all the riders involved were uninjured and able to continue.

This was not true for Rui Costa, however. After trying to make it to the finish line, Costa was forced to abandon the race, seriously denting the team’s aspirations for the “Race towards the Sun”. His team has yet to release a statement concerning the extent of injuries sustained by Costa, but it is suspected that he injured his left wrist in the accident.