Video: Orica-GreenEdge mechanic footage shows the aftermath of the Stage 3 crash at the Tour de France

By now, you’ve probably seen the dramatic crash during Stage 3 of the Tour de France on July 6 that took William Bonnet, Fabian Cancellera and four others out of this year’s race.

Judging from the widely-viewed aerial footage, it started with Bonnet losing control after appearing to contact the wheels of the rider ahead. One after another, riders toppled as the Mur de Huy climb approached, leaving a chaotic mass of bodies and bikes beside — or in — the ditch. Some collide at high speed with a light pole.

Bonnet, reports say, broke a bone in his neck; Cancellera somersaulted over his bars, landing head-first and breaking two vertebrae in his lower back. As a consequence of the crash, Cancellera, Bonnet, and four others — Simon Gerrans, Daryl Impey, Tom Dumoulin, and Dmitry Kozuntchuk — abandoned the race, which was neutralized and then halted by race directors shortly thereafter, with all available doctors tending to the injured.

Support vehicles came to an urgent stop, too, which is the vantage point from which another video, posted to YouTube, shows the aftermath of the crash. Shot by a team mechanic for Orica-GreenEdge, the GoPro video depicts the painful scene from ground level. Reading reports of the crash and viewing chase-helicopter footage is one thing. To see the number of injured cyclists from the angle of the race itself, though, really drives home what happened.

The withdrawal of those cyclists from the race, as Rob Sturney reports, puts their respective teams at a disadvantage when Stage 9’s team time trial rolls around.