With 20 kilometres left in the stage, the race was rocked by a massive crash on the slippery descent of the Côte de Bel-Air. In the peloton, several dozen riders including Van Baarle and Kruijswijk, crashed hard. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike riders were both taken to hospital. Later, the race organisation wisely decided to neutralise the stage. The peloton eventually rode towards the finish in Saint-Priest, where no time calculations were taken.

Sports director Grischa Niermann reacted afterwards. "There had already been some crashes, so it was clear that the roads were quite slippery. The road where the big crash happened did not form any danger, but it was very slippery. Half the peloton hit the ground, including Dylan and Steven. They were both heavily battered, which is another big upset for the team. In hospital their damage will be measured."

“We still have five riders in the race”, Niermann added. "Matteo Jorgenson, who is third in the general classification, can start the tough final weekend in a great position. We will definitely keep going for it. It's again a bitter pill to swallow, but we have to show resilience."

Tiesj Benoot was riding at the front of the peloton when the crash took place. "I was together with Matteo, Sepp Kuss and Bart Lemmen at the front of the peloton. Just behind us a rider went down, causing a domino effect in the group. It's terrible to lose both Dylan and Steven. We just finished an altitude training camp together in Sierra Nevada. It is enormously sour for them to have to leave the last preparation race for the Tour de France in this way”, the Belgian concluded.