Rider crashes out of Tour de France, fractures vertebrae

It wasn't just Tom Dumoulin blowing competitors off the course at this morning's time trial, with huge gusts ending playing havoc with riders.

Strong crosswinds were reportedly gusting up to 50kph during the individual time trial ride from Bourg-Saint-Andéol to La Caverne du Pont-d'Arc.

Etixx-Quickstep rider Julian Alaphilippe, who was spectacularly blown of his bike, describedhis rear disc wheel as a "kite".

Trek-Segafredo rider Edward Theuns found out the hardest way when he was blown off his bike at high-speed, sending him into a roadside ditch and fracturing a vertebrae.

Speaking of his accident from a hospital bed the rider said the wind had picked him up during a technical descent and sent him tumbling over his handlebars where he landed on his neck and head.

"I am very disappointed because I was feeling good and was going okay and now suddenly everything comes to a stop," Theuns said in a statement.

"I came into a downhill corner around kilometre 23 and the wind grabbed my wheel and I had to correct a little and went off the road.

"I thought I had it, but then hit a tree trunk on the ground and went over my bike and landed quite hard. I directly felt that my back was not OK."

The rider had been wearing discs on his wheels, which some, such as Robbie McEwan, speculated had added to the impact of the wind on riders.

At the time of writing Theuns was still awaiting surgery.

"The pain is not bad at the moment, but I am tensed to not move my body and it's very uncomfortable," he said.

"The pain is OK, but I am a little nervous about the operation."

Alaphilippe, however, nursed his way to the finish line and later tweeted a photo of himself recovering.

Dutch rider Dumoulin won the stage impressively, beating the next-fastest Chris Froome by 1 minute and 3 seconds.