It was a day of sunshine and dry roads, yet Stage 3 of the Tour de France featured two dramatic crashes, with an estimated 40 riders going down, causing the race to be brought to a complete stop.
With around 50 kilometres of racing left, the peloton was heading slightly downhill at around 45 kilometres an hour when two riders made fleeting contact.
It was a stark reminder of just how dangerous riding in the peloton is; a brief moment as two machines touched saw Frenchman William Bonnet go down, run over by the two cyclists behind him, and bringing down more than a dozen riders all over the road behind him.
It was carnage. Riders flipped over their handlebars, skidding off into the dust of the country road’s shoulder. As bikes and bodies were sprayed over the road, riders who had been further back were also brought down, unable to avoid the debris.
While the cameras focused on the dramatic images – Bonnet’s kit was torn to shreds, and there was no shortage of blood to be seen – a second crash occurred some 500 metres up the road.
This time Fabian Cancellara, holder of the leader’s yellow jersey, was among those to go down.
With all the race’s medics having stopped to tend to the injured, the race was neutralised. Tour Director Christian Prudhomme brought his car to the head of the peloton, appeared out of the sunroof, and gestured to the leaders of the peloton to slow their pace.
Their was a brief misunderstanding as the race resumed at pace, before Prudhomme once again appeared out of his sunroof, this time telling the riders to bring the race to a complete halt at the base of the Cote de Bohissau.
“To see the race organisation make this call, I’d have to go back through my history books a long way,” said Paul Sherwen.
Word filtered through that third-placed rider and owner of the best young rider jersey Tom Dumoulin had been forced to abandon, along with Bonnet, and Orica-GreenEDGE team leader Simon Gerrans.
The peloton waited at the foot of the category 4 climb, as those caught up in the crash gingerly re-joined the peloton. Aussie Michael Matthews was one who slowly made his way back to the group, his hopes of a stage victory in tatters, as was his kit.
After around 10 minutes the peloton began rolling again, but the climb up Bohissau was neutralised, with racing beginning again at the climb’s summit. Even then it was a few kilometres before the peloton took off in earnest.
Images showed Cancellara in his battered Maillot Jaune, struggling to keep contact with the back of the peloton. It was announced that Gerrans, Dumoulin and Bonnet had all been taken to hospital, Dmitry Kozontchuk had also abandoned, while Dutch rider Laurens ten Dam was continuing the stage despite having dislocated his shoulder.
In the end, the stage was won by Joaquim Rodriguez, ahead of Chris Froome who took the yellow jersey.
With so many caught up in two large pile-ups, it’s likely there will be a number of abandons overnight as the shock and adrenalin leaves the affected riders’ bodies, and the reality of their injuries become more apparent.
And with Stage 4 featuring seven sections of cobbles – a surface renowned for causing crashes – it could be a brutal first week in terms of injuries and abandons.
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