A pile-up in the final 250 metres took down Schär, while Bookwalter and van Garderen's mishaps both happened earlier in the 228.5km stage. Schär said he saw the first part of the crash happening in front of him and he and teammate Cadel Evans managed to avoid it.

"But then, from the back, some guys didn't see it and one slammed into me at 50 kilometres an hour," the Swiss national road champion said. "My elbow and back are bruised, but it's nothing serious."

Bookwalter said he was taking a drink when the rider in front of him suddenly swerved. "I only had one hand on the handlebars at the time so I couldn't react like normal," he said. "I have a little bit of soreness and lost a little bit of skin but I'm OK."

Van Garderen, who suffered scrapes and bruises in a crash on Stage 1, called his mishap "a stupid crash." "I was grabbing a bottle from Steve Morabito and then we hit this left corner and people hit the brakes pretty hard," he said. "I had one hand on the bars and lost control. It was completely my fault. Just a lack of focus."

Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) took the win ahead of Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling) as Cadel Evans finished 27th to remain 26 seconds back of overall leader Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge). Bookwalter said the day wasn't any more dangerous than the previous three road stages on Corsica. "We were a little unlucky today, but we weren't the only ones," he said. "There were other crashes here and there with one and two riders. So it's not like we were super unlucky or doing anything wrong. It's just the usual cluster of the first week."