What a dangerous start this has been to the Tour, and two of the accidents wouldn't have happened but for careless drivers. For anyone who may think cyclists aren't tough, today a French TV caused an accident in the lead, breakaway group while attempting to pass. The car hit one rider and knocked him into another, sending the second rider flying off of his bike and into a barbed wire fence.
Here's a video of the accident, and here's a picture of the second rider extracting himself from the barbed wire fence (the picture has some blood and half a cyclist's bare rear end).
Both went on to finish the rest of the stage today. Accidents are a part of the sport, and many riders (including others today) have had to drop out of the Tour due to very serious accidents, but my thoughts especially go out to Flecha and Hoogerland for being the victims of irresponsible driving today.