TDU: Ben Swift Escapes Carnage, Wins Stage 2

Carnage and Gravel This looked like an ordinary sprint finish for essentially the entire race until all hell struck in the final 5 km. Riders started dropping like flies, sprinters were falling behind and getting separated from their teammates, and Ben Swift not only ended up being Team Sky's audible sprinter but he managed to hold off a pair of hungry sprinters in Robbie McEwen and Graeme Brown.

Swift actually said in a post-stage interview that with 500 m to go he was notified that he was the new "sprinter" because normal team sprinters CJ Sutton and Greg Henderson had become lost in the shuffle. Swift got down to business, launched himself at the line, and stunned just about everyone waiting at the line in Mannum.

But how exactly did Ben Swift end up as the day's fastest sprinter? Well, nobody really knows for sure at this point but here's what I got right now.

Somewhere between 3 and 4 km to go there was large-scale crash involving Mark Cavendish and several other riders. Cav was right in the middle of the crash, but other sprinters like Griepel and Goss (both race favorites) were also held up by the fray of riders everywhere and their chances at winning were essentially terminated.

Then after the peloton was able to somewhat organize again there was another pileup in the run to the finish involving several Garmin-Cervelo riders including Julian Dean and the Meyer brothers. (not sure but Farrar may have possibly been involved as well).

Then whoever was left riding basically lined up for a free-for-all and Ben Swift caught everyone off guard when he launched. But there was a silver lining for McEwen as he took over as the GC leader. Many of the hobbled and mangled riders managed to hobble their way across the line, but it is unknown who was involved in what crash and whether or not the 3 km rule applies. Below is a pic I found of Cavendish (though I would not scroll down if you're squeamish to blood)
So I guess we'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see who is ready to go and who retires from the race.

But what caused these crashes?

Every rider that has been interviewed has named the same culprit: gravel. Apparently these little specs of gravel were all over the roads on the way into Mannum and probably elsewhere on the course. There was an extraordinary amount of flatting throughout the day and some guys like Mitch Docker actually even flatted twice on the stage.

I've heard all kinds of rumors of riders' injuries and what not but I'm not going to say anything until I hear it's official. But one that I can confirm is that Bernard Sulzberger has been taken to the hospital with a possible broken collarbone. It is believed that he was involved in the 2nd crash.

So the top 3 in the GC look like this:

1. Robbie McEwen
2. Matt Goss
3. Ben Swift

Please follow my twitter account @CTPCycling because I will probably be updating everyone on the situation as of tomorrow morning (in the US)

Here's a snapshot from my account as I was trying to sort out the carnage. Nobody quite knows what's going on right now but I will share it as soon as I do.

-So latest word is that Cav and Sutton both took a hard fall. #TDU
-Best wishes to Bernard Sulzberger, who reportedly suffered a broken collarbone #TDU
-The question now is whether or not they were outside 3 kms #TDU
-Matt Goss was also involved in one the crashes. The Meyer bros as well. #TDU
-Well Lance just tweeted that McEwen is the new leader. I thought so, but haven't heard anything official #TDU
-Bobridge also said that it was gravel on the roads that caused some of the problems today #TDU
-Bobridge just said that he thinks it was Garmin-Cervelo boys that went down in that 1st crash, not Sky #TDU
-Graeme Brown took 3rd. Good finish for Rabobank #TDU
-Then there was another pileup in the final 150 m and somehow Ben Swift ended up sprinting because his teammates were all missing #TDU
-Rojas launched an attack, was caught, and then it was chaos heading to the line #TDU
-Ok, so Greipel and Cav were caught up in a crash as well as a bunch of Sky riders were caught up in a crash #TDU
-McEwen 2nd #TDU I'm hearing Greipel also was involved in that crash
-BEN SWIFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #TDU
-CAVENDISH HAS CRASHED! Disrupt HTC's leadout #TDU

But anyway nice ride again by Robbie and he will be in ochre tomorrow.
As for tomorrow's stage, it will probably be a sprint but this at least has a slight potential for a breakaway. The slight incline at the finish might entice someone daring like Bobridge to make an attack near the end but the big question will be whether they can escape from the clutches of the peloton.