Besides a broken shoe, Tour Down Under stars Lance Armstrong and Cadel Evans stayed out of trouble through the opening stage. Evans was caught up in the crash less than a kilometre into the 141km first stage north of Adelaide from Clare to the Barossa town of Tanunda.

But some quick repairs on his bike shoe meant he stayed in the race with no trouble.

Armstrong, the record seven-time Tour de France winner, is racing at the Tour Down Under for the second-straight year and finished the stage in 46th place.

Evans made cycling history last September when he became the first Australian to win the elite men’s road race at the world championships.

He was 59th on Tuesday and the pair finished in the same main group as stage winner Andre Greipel.

The pair are making debuts with new teams this week – Armstrong at RadioShack and Evans with BMC.

“There were a few more nerves after the first 300m,” Evans said of the crash.

“It was hard, but it’s the first race of the year and I’m just getting the rhythm back, it’s pretty hard to simulate (in) training, but there’s a really-good quality field here, so when it goes fast it really goes fast.

“Mostly, for me personally, it’s getting everything going with the team and getting to work on the road, getting a feel for things.

“For a team who came here without a sprinter, we already have two jerseys, it’s a good start.”
Evans’ Swiss team-mate Martin Kohler was in a three-man break that was away for most of the stage.

Kohler’s efforts earnt him the jerseys as leader of the young rider and sprint classifications.

For Armstrong, the stage passed without major incident, although he felt the Menglers Hill climb about 30km from the finish.

“It’s not bad, but I think for everybody it’s the first hard stage, or up-and-down stage,” he said.

“That hill, I think everyone was suffering a little bit, at least the boys I talked to.

“Overall, it was a fairly uneventful day.”

© AAP 2012

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