A crash in the final 10 kilometers of Monday’s stage of the Giro d’Italia held up Cadel Evans long enough to take the maglia rosa off the back of the BMC Racing Team’s world champion.

How It Happened
Evans was not hurt in the crash, but even a furious chase could not keep him from conceding 45 seconds to stage winner’s Wouter Weylandt’s small group. “With 10 km to go, I had done everything right, I put myself everywhere (to be safe) and was relaxed and there was no wind,” Evans said. “Then, I came around a corner and the whole Sky team was on the ground. (Suddenly), guys were falling on top of me. Losing 40-some seconds to my competitors isn’t something I wanted to give up.”

Rest Day Tuesday
Evans is now 24th overall, 43 seconds behind new leader Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana). The Australian said he enjoyed Holland, but will not exactly miss the country as the race takes a rest day before resuming in Italy Wednesday. “While Holland is very cycling friendly for commuters, there’s a lot of things on the road which you can’t see from the peloton because they’re so small and low and that adds to the problems,” he said.