Defending champion Egan Bernal made it through the rainy opening stage of the Tour de France without crashing, but many of the leading riders around him, including Grupama-FDJ's Thibaut Pinot, and Bernal's teammate Pavel Sivakov of Ineos Grenadiers hit the ground and suffered various scrapes and injuries. [Bahrain McLaren's Rafa Valls crashed with 3 km to go on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, breaking his femur.

"There were quite a lot of crashes. There were a lot of oil marks on the road, but at least I didn't race on the last climb. Otherwise, there could have been more crashes," Bernal said. According to his team, from the second descent down from the Côte de Limiez until around 25 km to go, the race was virtually neutral with Tony Martin and his Jumbo Visma team in the lead.

"I think I got out of the stage relatively well, but we'll have to see how my teammates do," Bernal continued.

"It's normal to have a lot of crashes on the first day of the Tour. There's a lot of stress, all the riders are fresh, and there's a lot of fighting for the lead. My teammates did a great job protecting me and keeping me out of trouble.

Sivakov, who was set to be an important assistant to Bernal in the mountains this year despite it being the Russian's first Tour de France, suffered two crashes and lost more than 13 minutes to stage winner Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) He finished limping across the finish line in a small group, having fallen behind.

"It was my first Tour de France and I couldn't have asked for a better start. I hurt my back and knee quite a bit, but I'm on my way to yellow with Ineos Grenadiers."

"I've been working on my back and knee, but I'm still on the road to yellow with Ineos Grenadiers.

The team told Cycling News on Saturday evening that Sivakov did not need stitches but had many abrasions. As it stands, the 23-year-old will likely compete in the second stage in Nice on Sunday.