The ASO have not been universally in recent weeks, following their disagreements with the UCI and their failure to support the planned reforms of the racing calendar put forward by cycling’s governing body.

But Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme deserves a lot of credit for his handling of the neutralising of the stage after the huge crash.

While it was initially unclear – and very unpopular with the riders unaware of the severity of the incident which their team-mates had avoided – why the race had to halt, Prudhomme stood firm in the face of some very unhappy riders.

And sticking to his guns, with the medical support for the race all held up treating riders involved in the crash, was clearly the correct, sensible and most commendable decision.

The crash itself was a brutal reminder of how quickly cycling can change – there had been no shortages of incidents on stage two, but all 198 riders started stage three.

In one, sudden moment, however, Tom Dumoulin, a favourite to take the yellow jersey after the stage, Simon Gerrans and William Bonnet were all out and several more were nursing bad injuries.

For Gerrans, who has suffered an injury-ravaged season, it was particularly unlucky as he suffered yet another blow – cycling can be a cruel, and dangerous beast.