Still hurt by his crash two days ago, Jean-Christophe Peraud admitted he was contemplating calling it quits.

"At this pace, I'm not going to last long. It's harder and harder every day. I have pain all over, the vibrations hurt, the legs are turning the wrong way. Nothing goes well. My only objective today was to go all the away to see how things are tomorrow and make decisions according to my condition. If it goes on like this, it's only survival, it's useless to continue. The Tour is going to eat me up. It it doesn't go any better, my skin won't be worth a lot. The support pleases me but I would would rather shine with my results, it's disappointing to shine at the back of the peloton."