Levi Leipheimer, who was third in general classification at Paris-Nice (+6 seconds) going into the 219.5km stage 7 from Sisteron to Nice, suffered three crashes on Saturday.
Two teammates worked hard to bring him back on the first crash.
"There was a corner with gravel and I dropped my vest into my front wheel because everybody reacted," Leipheimer said."I was holding my vest but had to let go to brake and it went in the front wheel. By the time I crashed I was going slow so it was not such a big deal. i hit my left wrist, which is swollen but it was OK."
Four teammates drove the pace to try and bring him back on the second crash.He trailed the peleton by just 40 seconds with 15km remaining.
"I got on my spare bike, but I did the Col de Vence climb and wasn't feeling as good on my bike," Leipheimer said. "I wanted to get back on my other bike, back on the first bike. On the downhill, I was right there at the front with Bradley Wiggins and Alejandro Valverde. I was fine, i was paying attention, but someone from behind wasn't and they hit me hard and broke my bike just as Movistar attacked. Stijn Vandenbergh and Kevin de Weert and Dries Devenyns and Tony Martin waited for me."
Unfortunately, the final crash was on a technical turn on the Col de Vence descent.
"We were really close to the bunch," Leipheimer said. "We arrived close to the group, but in the left corner there was a motorbike protecting someone from Lampre who crashed. We couldn't avoid them. I think everyone passed except Dries and I couldn't avoid it, and I crashed into him. It's easy for me to say I could have done this or that tomorrow, but that's part of the race. It was just bad luck."
Both returned to their bikes, but Leipheimer, led by the efforts of Nikolas Maes, Tony Martin and Kevin De Weert, completed the race 16'50" back from race winner Thomas de Gendt (VCD).
"First of all you have to look at the positives," Sports Director Brian Holm said. "The third crash downhill at 15km, that was not fun. Going into something standing still you can really hurt yourself. I saw them hurt themselves badly, but don't think anybody broke anything. My first thought was 'shoot, arms and legs were broken.' Levi, he is made of chocolate. You know, third time down, to get back on your bike, you have to be very strong. I am just glad no one broke their bones. Stuff happens."
Leipheimer is now out of GC contention going into the final time trial on Sunday. Still, he and his teammates battled to ensure he finished. Devenyns abandoned due to injuries from the crash. He finished in the second team car. He has five stitches on his chin and bruises on his arms and shoulders. Levi has bruises on his right knee, hip and arm.
"The team waited for Levi," Holm said. "Everybody waited for the captain. he goes down, everyone goes down. That's what they have to do. Sylvain was in the top nine so he did what he had to do. Stuff happens."
Rein Taaramae (COF) was 2nd on the stage, 6'18" back from De Gendt. John Degenkolb (PRO) was 3rd. Sylvain Chavanel takes over as the GC leader for the team, moving up a place to 8th. He is 1'16" back from yellow jersey holder Bradley Wiggins (SKY). He finished 28th on the stage, crossing the finish line with the field.