[2] The race was won by Alexander Vinokourov of the Telekom team.

Andrey Kivilev (Cofidis), fourth in the 2001 Tour de France, crashed heavily during stage 2.

An emergency surgery was conducted the same night, but Kivilev died in the early morning of 12 March 2003.

Following his death, calls to make the wearing of crash helmets compulsory in professional cycling increased.

[3] Less than a month later, the sport's governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale, declared helmets mandatory for all UCI-sanctioned events.