Route du Sud (st. 1)

Young Spaniard falls in the final stages of the opening day in the Route du Sud, will have a small cervical fracture operated. Sanz sprints to 8th place

At the same time Rui Costa is leading the Tour de Suisse, a second Movistar Team block started today their participation in the 36th edition of the Route du Sud on French soil. Spanish youngster Enrique Sanz was the top performer from the telephone squad in an opening stage -188k from Lacaune-les-Bains to Albi- decided into a sprint won by local Stéphane Poulhiès, who outsprinted a bunch including all Blue contenders but Ángel Madrazo. The Cantabrian suffered a crash into a central island close to the finish and, after checks undergone at the Albi Hospital, was diagnosed a small fracture in his second cervical vertebra. Madrazo will be moved tonight to a medical center in Toulouse in order to be operated on Friday or Thursday and start recovering, once his left collarbone fracture initially diagnosed was discarded.