Stage 3 winner Tim Mellier (Soudal-Quick Step) is hoping his first rest day of the Giro d'Italia "will help his injury" after crashing hard in the stage 7 individual time trial.

The Belgian's accident was not discovered on the broadcast because he was not involved in the stage fight, but photos of Mellier and comments from himself and his team staff made it clear that he had crashed and suffered more than superficial injuries.

"Tim fell pretty hard during the time trial due to a bump in the road surface on a high speed section and crashed over the handlebars. His entire side is open. It is a graze from his ankle to his elbow," sport director Iljo Keisse told Het Laatste Nieuws.

Merlier criticized the circumstances of his crash on the solo stage to Perugia in preparation for the next sprint opportunity, and described his crash before stage 9 in a depressed tone.

"It's a shame because it was a really stupid crash, I had an easy win on the TT bike and then I had a stupid crash on the straight," Merlier told Eurosport.

Merlier may have been one of the favorites for stage 9, which finishes in Naples, but after crashing so hard, he is unlikely to survive the punchy hill with 40km to go and will likely just have a safe day of laps.

"Everything hurts a little bit. I don't feel like I'm ready, but I'll give it a shot. If I feel like I'm not okay, then I'll look for the right time," he told the broadcaster.

Soudal Quickstep expects Alpecin to provide full gas to send Carden Groves to Naples due to the hilly nature of the course, but thankfully for Merlier, even if he can't keep up, he gets a rest day tomorrow so he can reset for Week 2 to reset for the next two weeks.

"I have a lot of pain in my groin. But I don't think I'm the only one in the group," Mellier told Het Nieuwsblad.

Along with Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Mellier is one of two bunch sprint winners in this year's Giro.