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The Reigning 2009 Tour Down Under champion Allan Davis admitted he was looking for a “big miracle” on Tuesday after a disastrous first day left him more than eight minutes off the pace.

Davis was slowed by a mass pile-up at the start and was also hampered by Astana’s decision to come without their team radios, amounting to a terrible opening day of the season.

“It would have to be a big miracle now but I’m not really worrying about the overall (standings). It’s a long race, a long season and we’ll see what happens,” he said.

Davis, 29, refused to blame communication problems for his poor start, saying he was not in strong enough condition to challenge for the title and was more focused on this year’s world championships in Melbourne.

“It’s no problem, it’s one of those things, I was having a bit of a bad day as well,” he said. “They didn’t bring any (radios) over, I’m not sure why.”

“I know the work I’ve done and where I’m at, I’m not shattered at all.”

Davis famously battled back from a crash last year which badly injured 2008 champion Andre Greipel, Tuesday’s stage winner, to finish the day second and eventually win the title.

But he was unable to recover from the latest collision despite managing to stay on his bike as dozens of riders hit the deck.

“It was a bad one,” Davis said. “It was strange, we had just started to pick up speed and the next thing quarter of the peloton was on the ground all at the same time.

“The attacks had just started to go, the speed was just starting to pick up and next thing, bang, it went down.

“I just missed it and a guy took me out from behind, but I had one foot down before he hit me so it wasn’t too bad.”