Tour stage 10

Another Tour stage, another Euskaltel crash. This time Egoi Martínez and Pablo Urtasun were the unlucky ones, but luckily they both came away with "only" bruises and cuts. According to the team's website they're bruised "all over the body" but should still be able to take the start tomorrow without any problems. With Velasco and Txurruka already gone, Euskaltel can ill-afford any further losses. As for the racing, Samu once again stayed out of trouble and was accompanied in the main peloton by the mentioned Martínez, Verdugo and Álan Pérez. The latter even tried to go it alone inside the last five kilometres, showing excellent form, after Gorka Izagirre had done the exact same thing five clicks earlier. They both failed obviously, but it's still a good sign approaching the second half of the race. Izagirre eventually ceded 2:48, whilst Urtasun ended up 5:33 down and Rubén Pérez 5:59.

Crash-victim Amets Txurruka has been transferred back home to Euskadi after some initial tests at a hospital in Saint-Flour. The wiry climber will undergo further scans at the Clínica San Sebastián in Bilbao (the same clinic Velasco was taken to) to determine the extent of the damage done to his left collarbone.