April 6, 2006 – This week has seen several bad crashes with top North Americans. Michael Barry (Discovery), who crashed recently at the Tour of Flanders, is recovering better than expected and hopes to be back on the bike soon. The next big hopes for the USA – Cofidis’ Tyler Farrar and Credit Agricole’s Saul Raisin – crashed in France at the Circuit de Sarthe. Farrar is recovering well however Raisin has just been induced into a coma.

The coma was induced by doctors to help deal with the swelling of his brain. His condition is listed as serious. The crash apparently was due to his epilepsy – something that has happened before – although very few details are available at this time.