Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) crossed the finish line of the first stage in Nice with a hole in his right shoulder and hip and a disappointed look on his face. But luckily, he did not lose any time in the overall Tour de France standings, as he crashed with 3km to go.

"It was a difficult day. It was one of the worst days of my career and for the whole peloton. It was like running on ice. It was like running on ice."

Pinot had recently crashed at the Route de l'Occitanie and the Criterium du Dauphiné when the race returned. Last year, he was forced to abandon the Tour de France due to a muscle injury.

This time he crashed with teammates David Gaudoux and William Bonnet, and Valentin Maduas also crashed early in the stage.

After a number of riders crashed at various points in the 156km stage, and the race judges opted not to neutralize the race, the peloton took it upon themselves to slow the pace on the final climb and testing descent. [Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) won the sprint battle to take the race leader yellow jersey for the first time.

As the race entered the final stages, stage times were determined with 3km to go. The crash in which Pinot was involved occurred only a dozen meters before the 3km marker, so he and everyone else were given the same time as Christophe, and Pinot's hopes for the overall win were not ended.

"He was frustrated and a bit nervous, as was the rider who crashed in the finale. But after a night of resorting, he will do well tomorrow," explained Marc Madiot, team manager of Groupama-FDJ, to the French media desperate for information on his country's biggest overall contender.

"Thibault avoided crashing just before the 3km marker, but when it's slippery, it's slippery. I think when he came to the three-kilometer mark with three kilometers to go, some people eased up and got in his way," Madio said.

"He wasn't the only one on the team [who crashed].