Irish champion Sam Bennett dropped out of Paris-Nice after crashing on stage 3 in La Châtre on Tuesday.
The Deceuninck-QuickStep rider was involved in a tangle with Israel Start-Up Nation's Hugo Hofstetter in the bunch sprint and crashed into the barriers. He cut a finger on his right hand and needed four stitches to close the wound.
The incident came after Bennett shouldered first Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) and then Hofstetter out of his way, resulting in a 800 CHF fine and a 40 UCI point penalty from the race jury.
In separate incidents, Guillaume Boivin (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Max Walscheid (NTT Pro Cycling) were also injured in crashes and did not take the start of the stage 4 time trial in Saint-Amand-Montrond on Wednesday.
Walscheid injured his hand and Boivin was suffering from headaches after his crash and withdrew out of precaution.
"It pains me to leave my teammates at a middle of such a demanding race, but its better not to take chances," he said.
Following his crash yesterday, @Sammmy_Be has again been assessed by our medical team and it has been decided that he will not take to the start of #ParisNice stage 4 today, and he is instead travelling home. We wish Sam a speedy recovery!March 11, 2020
We regretfully announce that our Canadian 🇨🇦 tough man @Guillaumeboivin is out of #ParisNice. G was involved in a nasty crash yesterday. Still suffering from headaches this morning, the decision was made to take him out of the race. Next: pic.twitter.com/EhQJ2GZhi9March 11, 2020
🇨🇵 #ParisNice⏱️ITT stage 4 13:42 - @ben_oconnor9513:45 - @MichaelGogl14:58 - @Roman86_K14:59 - @MichaelValgren15:00 - @RyanGibbons2315:11 - @VCampenaerts16:03 - @GiacomonizzoloUnfortunately @MaxWalscheid won't start after sustaining a hand injury in a crash yesterday.March 11, 2020