Ryan Wills reports on Robbie McEwen crash

May 29th, 09.  Kiwi Ryan Wills reports from inside the peloton at the Tour of Belgium after Stage 2 where Robbie McEwen crashed out killing his chances of a Tour de France start.

"There was a huge crash that happened on the finish line, it was a crazy circuit, so much road furniture, a crash was going to happen somewhere. 3km earlier I was also following McEwen when he jumped the curb and rode into the stop sign," said Wills.

"Yesterday he was telling me about this years Tour de France and today he's lying on the road side, broken knee, career in doubt, thoughts are definitely with him tonight."

Wills told RoadCycling "I was behind McEwen tossing up whether to jump the curb with him but I thought nah I'd rather lose a few places and stay safe." Good call Ryan.

Update from Team Katusha: Robbie is in the hospital. His knee joint is ok, but he cut his ligaments under his left knee and the doctors are rebuilding it. It's almost impossible for him to participate in the Tour de France.

Twitter Update from Robbie: Had an accident today in tour of Belgium, broke my tibia. Operation, two screws in it. Luckily the tendon is ok. Hit a barrier.

Ryan Wills: Reporting live from the peloton in the Tour of Belgium

Stage 1, I think it was 190km or something, Tervuren - Tervuren.

So much for a flat stage, there were some steep wee climbs in there. It was pretty hard for me, I got pretty good at motor pacing. I had more flat tyres in the stage than I've had all year. I did manage a chat to Robbie McEwen during lunch though, he was telling me about how he won the Tour of Wellington in 1994, I was telling him how I was 6 years old  then!  I ended up too far back and missed a split in the last 3km, lost 1 min 24 sec.

I did learn something though, to catch back up in the last 30km you have to be doing at least 80km/h behind the car. That was pretty scary, especially on these roads.

Stage 2, 200km, Buggenhout - Knokke Heist.

No problems for me today. Did it easy. First hour was fast until the break was away,  then it was lunch time. Toilet stop, whatever you want to do at 28km/h. After 15min or so Katusha had to set tempo for most of the day as they had the leader in Ivanov.

Then 70km to go the sprinters teams come to the front to bring the break back and it was race on. Silence with Belgian Champion Roelandts, Rabobank with Brown, Katusha with Napolitano, De Haes and McEwen, Vanscansoleil with Bozic, LPR with Ongarato, Quickstep with Weylandt, Skil-Shimano with Van Hummel, the list goes on. So it's pretty much a bloc (full gas) for the rest of the race. One thing I did learn today though is that when you hit the front you do whatever you can to stay there, because there's no coming back from the back if you drift.

I have a new respect for those professional sprinters. They have some big balls to ride those sprints. I don't yet have the nerve for that. Well not so much the nerve it would be ok if I had the power to sustain the position.

There was a huge crash that happened on the finish line, it was a crazy circuit, so much road furniture, a crash was going to happen somewhere. 3km earlier I was also following McEwen when he jumped the curb and rode into the stop sign. Yesterday he was telling me about this years Tour de France and today he's lying on the road side, broken knee, career in doubt, thoughts are definitely with him tonight.

Tomorrow we have another flat stage, only 170km this time. cobble sections though.

Ryan finished safely with the peloton today, not losing any seconds.

GC after Stage 2

• 1 Borut Bozic (Slo) Vacansoleil 8.55.40
  
• 2 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) Team Katusha 0.04
  
• 3 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank 0.06
  
• 4 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen-Bauknecht 0.08
  
• 5 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Silence-Lotto 0.11
  

Related articles:

• Full results Tour of Belgium
• Tour of Belgium start list and Ryan Wills pre-race comments
• May 31st - McEwen - I will be back

Photos: Robbie McEwen courtesy Team Katusha