Stolen From VELONEWS

Spanish hamlet honors an Armstrong first

By Andrew Hood
Posted Apr. 19, 2009
The small Spanish village of Antigüedad hardly even makes the map, but the 500 or so inhabitants have built a tongue-in-cheek monument marking the spot where the hamlet made worldwide headlines.

When Lance Armstrong crashed out of the first stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y León with a broken clavicle on March 23, the world’s attention turned to the innocuous, narrow stretch of road across the barren fields of northern Spain.

According to a report on the Spanish wires, locals in nearby Antigüedad have since placed an old, blue bicycle with mudguards and a wooden plaque marking the spot where Armstrong crashed.

The plaque reads, “La Clavícula de Armstrong,” or Armstrong’s collarbone.

Armstrong crashed in a pileup some 15km from the finish line of the first stage of the Castilla y León and was knocked off his bike onto the shoulder of the road.

The 37-year-old sat there for several minutes in obvious pain before being transported away by ambulance in what was the seven-time Tour de France winner’s first broken bone of his long racing career.

Armstrong had surgery back in the United States and has already resumed training. He confirmed last week to race officials that he will be at the start of the 2009 Giro d’Italia, which begins May 9 in Venice, Italy.