After yesterday's bad luck with Nacer Bouhanni, Cofidis looked to Julien Simon to show his puncheur skills on the Mur de Huy. The Frenchman did well to sprint to 18th.

"18th, I am in my place," he said. "It was very steep but I did my best to hang on. I was behind when the crash occurred. Only in the Tour you can have crashes like that. It was very nervous."

His teammates Florian Senechal and Nicolas Edet were involved in the big crash.

"I saw crash fall in front of me but luckily I had time to brake to minimize the damage. I'm still fell but it was more of a mechanical failure. Now I will rest well and let the physios make me ready for tomorrow," Senechal said.

Edet suffered slightly worse injuries but will be ready to start tomorrow.