Crashes Become the Talk of the Tour After a Treacherous First Stage. The riders in the Tour de France crossed the finish line of Stage sf 1 on Sunday, some wincing and wounded, others so angry that they could only growl after a crash-filled afternoon had ruined their day. Lance Armstrong called it total mayhem. The British rider David Millar grumbled, Unbelievable, when asked to describe the stage. Mark Renshaw, the HTC-Columbia rider from Australia, was stunned. I have never seen a race like that, he said of the 138.9-mile, 5-plus hour stage. It was dangerous, it was beyond dangerous it was the most dangerous thing I ever experienced. On a day of the Tour that will not soon be forgotten, sf the crashing began shortly after the start in Rotterdam. And it seemed never to stop. Anxious riders pedaled on a windy, narrow route that was flanked with frenzied fans. Every rider seemed to fall at least once. Several times, some were forced to come to a full stop to avoid a crash in front of them.