French national TT champion Sylvain Chavanel heads out of the start-house, but could only finish a disappointing 29th on another bad day for the French. Ag2r’s Jean-Christophe Peraud, the highest-placed French rider at the start of the day (ninth) crashed in the morning while doing a reconnaissance of the course, breaking his collarbone. He took the start, but crashed heavily again less than 2km from the finish – right in front of his wife – landing on his broken collarbone and immediately abandoning. Teammate Romain Bardet is now the highest-placed Frenchman, in 20th.

Image: Presse Sports/ASO