Riders described Saturday’s opening stage of the Tour de France as like riding on a skating rink, the result of a combination of oily roads, heavy rain, wet road paint, and, apparently, a caravan float spewing soap bubbles.
“I’ve never seen so many crashes in my life,” said NTT’s Max Walscheid.
There were crashes throughout the day, including a few that took out large portions of the peloton. Most of the GC riders escaped unscathed, but a number of key domestiques and sprinters crashed hard.
As of press time, Rafael Valls, Philippe Gilbert, and John Degenkolb will not start stage 2. Degenkolb crashed and then missed the time cut. Gilbert broke his patella.
This list is incomplete. We’ll continue to update as additional information comes in from teams.
Astana
Miguel Angel Lopez – Crashed into a bush and a sign, regained contact with the peloton.
Luis Leon Sanchez – Skin loss, appears otherwise unhurt. Finished with the peloton.
Bahrain-McLaren
Rafael Valls – Injured leg, taken away in an ambulance, out of the race.
Bora-Hansgrohe
Lennard Kämna – Crash shown in the photo above. Skin loss, appears otherwise unhurt.
Deceuninck-Quickstep
Julian Alaphilippe – Crashed on left hip, appears unhurt.
EF Pro Cycling
Rigoberto Uran – Skin loss, appears otherwise unhurt.
Groupama-FDJ
Thibaut Pinot – Crashed at 3km, torn up kit. Injured right shoulder. Also hit his knee.
Valentin Madouas – “Just a small crash,” he said after the stage.
David Gaudu – Sacrum injury.
William Bonnet: Trauma to the left shoulder and trauma to the left thigh.
Rudy Molard: Trauma to the knee, skin loss. Also suffered from a direct shock to the inside of the knee.
Ineos Grenadiers
Pavel Sivakov – Two crashes, hit both hips and his knee, plans to continue.
Andrey Amador – Skin loss, appears otherwise unhurt.
Israel Start-Up Nation
Andrew Greipel – Four stitches on leg.
Nils Politt – Injured back, X-rays show no fractures.
Ben Hermans – Injured right wrist. Slight ligament damage, according to his team. X-rays show no fractures.
Jumbo-Visma
George Bennett – Crashed twice.
Tony Martin – Crashed in pileup at 3km to go.
Robert Gesink – Crashed, no information from team as of yet.
Lotto-Soudal
John Degenkolb – Deep cuts to both knees. Finished outside time limit by about two minutes.
Caleb Ewan – Crashed without about 80km to go, appears unhurt.
Philippe Gilbert – Crashed hard, taken to hospital after the stage. Finished 11 minutes down. UPDATE: Out of the race.
Movistar
Marc Soler – Skin loss, appears otherwise unhurt.
Imanol Erviti – Crashed three times, no major injuries.
José Joaquín Rojas – Bruises to arm and impact to back.
Nelson Oliveira – Skin loss, appears otherwise unhurt.
NTT Pro Cycling
Edvald Boassen Hagen – A few minor scrapes.
Ryan Gibbons – Hit his shoulder.
Domenico Pozzovivo – Lost skin on his left leg, required stitches on his elbow.
Sunweb
Marc Hirschi – Skin loss, appears otherwise unhurt.
Trek-Segafredo
Niklas Eg – High-speed crash, was holding shoulder.
UAE-Team Emirates
David De La Cruz – Skin loss, appears otherwise unhurt. Finished with peloton.
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