Amgen update
Dominguez halted in Stage I

CASEY B. GIBSON/Special to The Acorn TOUGH START- Agoura resident Ivan Dominguez was involved in a crash during Monday's Stage 1 of the Tour of California.

After battling gusting winds and challenging terrain for nearly 90 miles through Northern California's wine country, ToyotaUnited's hopes of repeating its riveting Stage 1 victory at the 2006 Amgen Tour of California were destroyed when a devastating crash took out half the field with less than 10 km to go.

While the team avoided injury, four of the team's eight riders were taken out of contention, including Ivan Dominguez, who was expected to be a threat in the final field sprint. Rabobank's Graeme Brown took the stage win.

"It was disappointing," team director Harm Jansen said. "When Dominguez goes down in a race like this and we don't have a sprinter at the end, it's game over. Crashes are a part of cycling and that's just how it goes. Fortunately none of our riders were injured."

While Dominguez's elimination from the final group may have cost the team a stage win, GC contenders Chris Wherry and Heath Blackgrove managed to stay out of the melee.

"I was happy to get through there alive," Wherry said. "There was a lot of nervousness in the peloton today as people were trying to get to the front as quickly as they could. I'm sure the crash had a lot to do with that."

With nearly 30 cyclists involved in the massive pileup, including many of the race's biggest names and current leader, Levi Leipheimer, it appeared that the incident would have a significant effect on the overall GC title. Shortly after the race, however, officials ruled that all riders in the crash group would be given the same finish time.