The Tour de France ambitions of British cyclist Brad Wiggins have suffered a blow, with teammate Kanstantin Sivtsov crashing out of the race.
The Belarusian allrounder was involved in a fall at 140km in the 207.5km third stage from Orchies to the French coastal town of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
The race site soon reported that Sivtsov was the first rider to abandon this year's Tour.
Sivtsov was a key lieutenant for Wiggins, who is the Tour favourite ahead of Australian defending champion Cadel Evans.
Riders and team directors were nervous about stage three because of the high potential for crashes.
There are a succession of hills in the last 50km and the roads are often narrow, plus there is a forecast of rain.
NZN