Having had a very promising start to the race, Jurgen Van Den Broeck's Tour de France started to unravel when he hit the deck twice. Suffering from his injuries, the Belgian has lost a bit of ground to his podium rivals but he remains hopeful that his good condition will allow him to shine in the final part of the race.

Jurgen Van den Broeck has an eventful first part of the Tour. The leader of Lotto-Belisol has hit the deck several times but tries to look ahead. 

"There is still much to come and I'm not tired," he told Sporza on the rest day. "The real mountains have yet to be tackled. That's where the Tour is usually decided and that will again be the case. We can still see come changes. On the climbs, the race will explode."

Van Den Broeck has crashed several times. "I am glad that I am still here," he said. "But the falls have taken their toll, and that's a shame after all the preparatory work.

"I think I underestimated the crashes. As a rider you don't realize the impact. I thought "It's just some lost skin, I continue." But the doctors say that you should not underestimate it as the wounds can be reopened several times. But I can not give up. All the preparatory work should pay off."

Van den Broeck today received a visit from Lieven Maesschalck, the physiotherapist of the Red Devils. 

"I wondered why my legs were so bad after the crashes. Previously this was not the case. But they told me that my body will recover and it will be okay."

Is Van Den Broeck tired after the first 10 stages. "Actually, no. Until now it has been stressful and nervous. The real race is still coming and I'm not tired. That makes me happy."

"It's so unpredictable. At the next rest day I could be 5th or 15th. Everything can change. I can not give up, but the last three days I could not do better. The legs did not allow it."

"If you take away the crashes, Van den Broeck would be somewhere near the top," said team manager Marc Sergeant. "On the Alpine climbs, he will have to throw a bomb at some point.

"Jurgen was good until his crash, so why would he suddenly would not be good? In 2012, he lost a lot of time, but he was still fourth in Paris. So if he can attack again and tak back time, anything is possible. Van den Broeck has the capabilities and the way to the podium is open."

"But there are ten riders between Jurgen and Richie Porte that will all defend their position. It will be difficult to move up. I hope they dare to attack but the past has shown us that this is not always the case .

"Everyone here rides at a very high level and it's hard to move up."