“This was disrespectful towards all riders from the organisation. Risking [the] health just to reach the end of the downhill-result,” Andre Greipel tweeted on Sunday after Saturday’s fourth stage saw numerous accidents.

Former time trial world champion Tony Martin wrote on Instagram: “Gravel and deep holes all the way down. The persons who decided to go down this road don’t care one second about the safety of us riders. How much more bad accidents have to happen that something will change?”

The stage race is the traditional warm-up for the Tour de France, with both events having been delayed by the coronavirus. The Tour starts on August 29.

Cycling has seen a raft of bad accidents since the coronavirus restart. Remco Evenepoel was hospitalized on Saturday following a bad crash at the Tour of Lombardy when he fell partly down a ravine.

Fabio Jakobsen was also seriously injured in a finish line crash at the Tour of Poland this month.