Team Sunweb's Tiesj Benoot luckily escaped with only a few cuts and bruised hands after crashing at an estimated speed of 60km/h on the descent of the Côte de l'Oranier on stage 4 of the Tour de France on Tuesday.

Benoot had been part of a six-rider breakaway group for the day and was planning an attack on the next Côte de Saint-Léger-lès-Méraise, but disaster struck on the Aulanier, he told Belgian media after the stage.

"It was really stupid," Benoot later admitted to Sporza. I wanted to be steering [Israel Startup Nation's] Nils Pollitt, and I closed the gap with him, but I went too fast in the corner that went around more than I expected."

"I felt the wheel shift and I panicked. 'I braked and lost control. I could see the crash barrier approaching and I started thinking about how to land as softly as possible."

Benoot's bike crashed into the barrier and the Belgian rider flipped over the barrier, luckily landing on the soft grass on the other side.

"I was really lucky," he said. It could have been a lot worse."

Those who saw the footage of the crash would also have seen the subsequent TV pictures of Benoot's carbon fiber Cervélo bike.

"The mechanic wasn't happy. He will have to build a new bike for me tonight," Benoot told Het Laatste Nieuws.

Sunweb doctor Kamiel Aldershoff reported on the team website on Tuesday night: "Tiesj had abrasions all over his body and his hand had to be x-rayed at the finish. As a result, there were no broken bones, but there were bruises.

"He can continue to race.

"Maybe tomorrow I won't be able to brake in the finale of the race, so maybe I won't be able to help Sibol in the sprint. But I'll still be in the race."