Wednesday's Stage 3 time trial at the Criterium du Dauphine turned out to be the end of the road for the week for three riders: Caisse d'Epargne's Mauricio Soler, Omega Pharma's Jean-Christophe Peraud, and Garmin's Michel Kreder.
Both Soler and Peraud are still reeling from crashes sustained in Monday's road stage, while Kreder suffered a broken collarbone as a result of a crash during the time trial.
Mauricio Soler finished a dismal 24:21 behind Slovenian time trial champion, Jani Brajkovic in the 49 km TT. He was nowhere near the time cut on the day.
Soler suffered mightily due to a blow he suffered to his knee during the first stage and couldn't continue.
The team hopes that a few days rest will be enough to solve the problem, so that Soler can resume his training in hopes of starting the upcoming Tour de France in top condition.
Caisse d'Epargne, already reeling from the loss of former World #1, Alejandro Valverde, will be looking for big rides from aging French star, Christophe Moreau, as well as former Tour de France King of the Mountains, mercurial Mauricio Soler, in July's Grand Boucle.
Omega Pharma's French time trial champion, Jean-Christophe Peraud finished a solid 41st on the day, but the finish was a hard fought one. The Omega Pharma team reports that "Jean-Christophe crashed heavily on Monday and suffers from bruises practically from head to toe. Our French ITT specialist fought valiantly yesterday as well as today, but he is now down with a severe bouth of fever."
Peraud will take some time off to recover from his Dauphine injuries and sickness, then resume training ahead of the French Time Trial Championships and the Tour de France
The final victim of the day was Garmin's young Dutch talent, 22-year-old Michel Kreder. Kreder was the only rider to meet his demise during the time trial. Kreder crashed heavily into a wall on the descent and was not able to finish due to injuries sustained in the fall.
Kreder tweeted the damage later in the evening: "Three stitches above [his] lip, fractured collarbone, and some road rash."