Wout Poels (Bahrain McLaren) revealed Sunday that he suffered broken ribs and a bruised lung after crashing in the finale of the first stage of the Tour de France in Nice.

"Yesterday was a pretty hectic start to the Tour!" Poels posted on his personal Instagram account on Sunday morning.

"I managed to dodge the crash until 2.9km. It hurts a lot but I want to fight again. I have a few broken ribs and a bruised lung so we'll see what happens today."

The opening stage of the Tour saw several crashes on the tricky, winding descents and on the straight to the finish line along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice due to heavy rain and slick road conditions.

Riders who crashed included Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers). He crashed twice and finished more than 13 minutes behind stage winner Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates).

Others involved in crashes included Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana), Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo), Julian Alaphilippe (Detunink-Quick Step), Nairo Quintana (Alcare-Samsic), Ilnur Zakarin ( CCC Team), Kevin Ledanova (Akea Samsic), Dominco Pozzovivo (NTT Pro Cycling), Caleb Yuan (Lotto Soudal), Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain McLaren).

John Degenkolb (Lotto Soudal), who crashed with teammate Yuan, cut his knee and elbow and finished the race alone, 18 minutes behind the stage time limit. Meanwhile, teammate Philippe Gilbert fractured his kneecap in the crash and was unable to race the second stage. Meanwhile, teammate Philippe Gilbert crashed on stage 2 and fractured his kneecap.

Race officials announced during the stage that the overall time would be measured with 3 km remaining to avoid any danger in the finale.

However, danger was unavoidable as a group crash with 2.9 km to go caused a number of riders to fall, including Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Bahrain McLaren's Wout Poels, and Raphael Valls.

Bahrain McLaren announced Sunday morning that Valls had broken his right femur in the crash and had withdrawn from the Tour de France.

Poels confirmed that he will start the second stage and will see how he feels during the stage, but hopes to recover enough to continue racing for three weeks. He also wished his teammate Valls a speedy recovery.