Australian sprint ace Robbie McEwen had to go to hospital after a dramatic end to the opening stage of the Tour Down Under.
Defending champion Andre Greipel yesterday won the sprint finish at Mawson Lakes, north of Adelaide and Tour de France legend Lance
Armstrong finished safely atthe back of the field.
Armstrong spoke with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd after the 140km stage from the Adelaide suburb of Norwood.
McEwen was contesting the sprint when he moved to the right-hand side of the road and hit either a photographer's camera or an object hanging over the fence.
The two-time Tour de France green jersey winner was left with a nasty-looking gash on his right elbow and he was going to hospital for x-rays.
"I don't think I've broken a bone, but it really, really hurts," McEwen said. "It [the elbow] blew up almost straight away and the pain is unbelievable."
While McEwen was suffering, Armstrong looked unfazed after the tough opening stage in the six-day race - despite temperatures soaring to nearly 40C.
"That was all right - for the day they said was going to be the easy day, the course combined with the temperature ... it was tough," Armstrong said. "But all-in-all, on the little steep hills that we had, I felt pretty strong."
It was Armstrong's first taste of racing since his 2005 Tour win.
Belgian Olivier Kaisen and Italian Andoni Lafuente attacked in the first couple of kilometres and built a lead of more than six minutes.
But their advantage was dropping before halfway and it was clear the race, as expected, would come down to a bunch kick.
As the peloton was catching the two breakaway riders, South Australian Jack Bobridge bridged the gap with about 20km and led by more than a minute. But the peloton reeled in his daring move.
The stage win was a confidence boost for Greipel's Columbia-Highroad team after two near-misses.
Peter McDonald caused an upset at the January 11 Australian road championships when he beat Greipel's team-mates Michael Rogers and Adam Hansen.
Then, Greipel was fourth at Sunday's Classic, after Columbia had set him up for the win.
