Today, the Tour Down Under warm-up race People’s Choice Classic was kicked off in Australia. Trek Factory Racing had Danny Van Poppel as the protected rider, but the Dutchman crashed with only seven laps to go.

The peloton had had a high speed until that point, but the crash made the peloton slow down a little bit and that allowed the four riders at the front to increase their lead.

"You could see how the peloton slowed down, because it had been very crazy until that point," said Director Kim Andersen. 

Also German Jens Voigt says that the peloton went to fast:

"It was a super-fast and also dangerous time on the bike. The speed was very high from the start and it was at times almost impossible to handle the bike because the sun was so low." 

With a couple of laps to go Danny Van Poppel slid and crashed out of the race. He only suffered from some bruises, but didn’t return to the race. His brother Boy Van Poppel was right behind at the time of the crash. At the end of the race, he was the best placed Trek rider and finished 19th.

"Danny was going too fast, in an attempt to move up some places. He touched another rider and went down. Too bad, because we were both feeling really good today," explained Boy Van Poppel.