Christian Vande Velde (Garmin SlipStream) crashed during the first stage of the Tour of Missouri and broke his hand. The crash occurred within sight of the finishing chute.

The break does not seem to be too serious and Vande Velde plans on being at the start line for stage 2.

He posted the following statement on his Twitter account “Broke my hand today in a crash. Not horrible but not ideal for racing. The fans were great today in STL. I will be on the start line tomorrow”.

We certainly hope that the break will not keep the defending champion from having an honest try at the 2010 title.