Kris Boeckmans had hopes to make it two in a row at the Etoile de Besseges but he hit the deck hard in the bunch sprint. Having defended his leader's jersey, the Belgian is ready to continue in the race.

"There has been much discussion in the peloton about whether to continue or not," he told Directvelo about the strong wind that forced the race to stop three times. "I followed the general decision. It was dangerous but after two hours of racing, there was less wind. The team worked for me in order to set up a sprint finish. But I crashed 1.5 kilometers from the finish. I have sore left hip but I will stay in the race."