Everyone expected chaos on the exposed Great Belt Bridge during the end of stage 2 at the Tour de France and the 18-kilometre span delivered with an unfortunate spill for the race leader Yves Lampaert (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl).
The crash happened after a touch of wheels in the peloton and Lampaert, just behind the fall, could not avoid the crash and went down along with Alberto Dainese (Team DSM) and Lampaert's teammate Michael Mørkøv.
Video footage showed Lampaert quicikly getting back on his bike, seemingly uninjured, and he began to chase the main field with 18.7km to go. Lampaert latched onto the team car until Mørkøv joined him and they quickly passed the convoy to rejoin the head of the peloton with 16.7km to go.
Rigoberto Urán (EF Education First) was also caught up in a crash in the nervous fight for position just ahead of the bridge, along with Kevin Vermaerke (Team DSM).
As one of the main GC contenders, Urán was surrounded by three teammates who helped in return to the main field, through strong cross- and headwinds with 10km to go.
The feared echelons never materialised on the Great Belt Bridge and the peloton was all together coming into the sprint. Another crash with 2.2km to go brought down a slew of riders but, as it was inside the last 3km, all 176 riders of the Tour de France peloton were all awarded the same time as stage winner Fabio Jakobsen (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl).
"At the end of the day it turned out OK. Before the bridge a guy crashed in front of me but the guys did a great job and we got back in," Urán said. "But they crashed again! Fortunately it was inside the 3km to go point so no stress. We knew these stages would be like this but we got through it today, now we can relax."
