David Gaudot of Grupama-FDJ fell as soon as the second stage of the Tour de France got underway.

Pinot did not appear to be significantly affected on Sunday and was able to follow the main group of about 30 riders, while Gaudo was able to fight back into the pack while battling back pain.

Gaudo came into the race as Pinot's right-hand man, but was already in questionable form after missing the preliminaries of the Criterium du Dauphiné due to digestive problems.

"When I fell at the '0 km point' I was very, very scared, as was the whole team," Gaudou admitted.

"I couldn't pedal without feeling intense pain around my sacrum (the bone at the base of the spine, above the tailbone).

"But it got better and better, and even though it was a tough day, I was able to achieve my goal of finishing within the time limit," said Gordou, who finished in 96th place, 18 minutes behind stage winner Julien Alaphilippe (Detunink-Quickstep). Gordou was in a large group that was nearly 18 minutes behind stage winner Julien Alaphilippe (Detuning-Quickstep).

"Thibault finished in the first group.

"He also passed his x-rays. I still feel limited when I hit the big gas pedal, but hopefully things will improve."

"It already is. I will continue my osteopathy and physiotherapy sessions, and given that I have no fractures, I doubt it will get any worse."

Both Gaudoux and Pinot crashed on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice with 3 km to go in the first stage.

"Thibault minimized the damage, but that's the big point," Groupama-FDJ sport director Thierry Briceau said after stage 2.

"There was no ambition this morning. A crash, especially like his, can have consequences. In that sense, it was a very good day.

"We survived and hopefully it will get better as the week goes on. But today was the big day. We had to get through it.

He added, "We can hope that David will be back in good shape by next weekend.