Anyone who has ever gone head first over their handlebars knows that there are few things in this world less pleasant to land on than a tar road, although I’m willing to bet very few of us were travelling at the same speed as these poor men.

The third stage of the 2015 Tour de France was marred by a horrendous crash that saw a number of cyclists tumble to the ground in a massive pile-up. Below from Stickybottle:

The crash that caused the racing to be briefly stopped occurred 55km from the finish resulted from William Bonnet (FDJ) touching wheels with another rider.

He came down hard and the speed the field was travelling at at the time meant a huge group of riders were on the road cut to pieces with a second or two.

Some hit a large lamp post at the side of the road.

The decision was taken to stop the action because so many medics were needed to attend to the injured there was no medical cover for those who stayed upright.

Fabian Cancellara, the man wearing the race leader’s yellow jersey in the above video, managed to finish the stage but later pulled out of the Tour with two fractured vertebrae.

Here’s hoping the rest of the race can pass without any more incidents like these, considering the amount of preparation these athletes put in it really is harsh to see some forced to withdraw.

[source:stickybottle]