Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) is the best profile rider to withdraw from the Critérium du Dauphiné after the team assessed the damage from a mass high-speed crash in Stage 5.

The Spanish rider had signed Hauterives with plenty of bandages on his body and completed the team's presentation, but after testing his injury, the 174.1km stage

"I tried to see if the pain is down and probably because it is not so," he said.

"It's both in my lower back [pain]." To be honest, I don't think there are many people who can say they crashed 2 times in the same crash yesterday, so I have to laugh about it. I was slipping and I was afraid that people from behind would hit me, so I tried to get up and fell to the other side again. 

"So I'm hitting both sides quite a bit, but definitely the worst is the left side, which was the first one when we all slipped."

Of the Dauphine's 7 UAE team Emirates riders, 6 fell in yesterday's crash, and 4 of them will be part of Tadej Pogañar's Tour de France support team, Ayuso, Nils Polit, Tim Wellens and Pavel Shifkov.

Ayuso and Politt were the 2 most visibly injured after the incident, and it took much longer to get back to the neutralized pack that waited further down the road. The team got injured on social media late last night.

"Falls to the left hip and knee with moderate abrasions. Also hit the 4th to 6th ribs on the left side of the handlebar. Ultrasound, no lung injury and clear rib fracture of soft tissue only. There is no hematoma concussion/spinal cord injury," was the way the UAE characterized Polit's injury.

Ayuso revealed that Politt was the first person to get off a UAE train when it crashed as he was leading the line, but revealed that the Germans could not do anything about it after "riding on a black tarmac like an ice rink."

The full team was all provisionally cleared by doctors to start Stage 6 without a fracture, but Aysuo's abandonment made him one of the 7 non-starters of the day.

The other six riders who will not start Stage 6 are Kobe Gossens (Intermarché-Wanty), Jasha Sütterlin, Kamil Gradek (both wins Bahrain), Odd Christian Eiking (Uno-X Mobility), Harry Sweeny and Lukas Nerurkar (both EF Education-EasyPost). But the latter 2 are out for respiratory diseases and COVID-19, respectively.

Dylan van Baal, Steven Kruiswick (both Visma-Reese A-Bike), Lawrence Huys (Arkéa-B&B Hotel) and Axel Mario (Cofidis) were taken to hospital by ambulance despite the end of Stage 5 under neutralized conditions after the crash. Stage 5 was DNFed.

Both Visma riders left the Dauphine and were excluded from their planned participation in the Tour de France as the run of the Dutch team's rotten luck continued, and team boss Richard Plugge questioned the safety of x, previously on Twitter.

Except for those who suffered more serious injuries and fractures, the Peloton was brutally affected, with nearly 50 riders on the wet road 21km from the Samplist finish.

Bahrain's victory was the result of Sutterlin breaking his hip, Gradek breaking his hand, and Rainer Kepplinger suffering a concussion. He started Stage 6 with just three riders after being kicked out of the race and sent for a scan in the hospital.

Lidl-Trek started the day with a full complement of riders, but Alex Kirsch withdrew "as a precaution to prevent further injuries after yesterday's crash." GC leader Tao Geogegan Hart also revealed to reporters before Stage 6 that he had a huge impact on his ribs during the crash.

"I was actually modulating my speed very well. Seeing firsthand the people in front of me sliding down and crashing, I was finding some space on the right aiming for the grass or the ideal world, and there was no way to stop.,He said.

"Then I think someone hit me from behind, probably not trying to break again, and I just flew to the electric pylon. So I have zero cuts or positive ones, but I hit my biceps and pylons around 45kph on my side.

"The ribs are always very complex, because even without a fracture, you can suffer a lot in breathing."

Alpecin Deschunink was also badly hit by 5 riders coming down in a crash at the Dauphine. Thankfully, the injury summary posted on their Instagram was mostly bruises and abrasions supported by xandro Meurisse, Juri Hollmann, Jason Osborne, Jensen Plowright and Luca Vergallito, who also revealed that they have experienced head injuries but no concussions.

There were many bandages throughout the Peloton injured at the start of Stage 6, with Gregor Mülberger (Movistar), Oliver Nezen (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Andreas Reknesun (Uno-X Mobility) apparently suffering superficial injuries. But they and many riders decided to soldiers before the Collette Dalebard Summit finish.

Race leader Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) avoided disaster after turning his bar over to his head and shoulders and going down the front. But he thanked his helmet after the stage and, after not getting too badly injured, got better and was able to start stage 6 in yellow.

Second-place Primoš Rogic (Bora Hansgrohe) also said that he crashed into a previously injured shoulder but escaped almost unharmed and started Stage 6, but this morning said that today is not focused on GC or results.

The impact of the crash is not only related to injuries in that the rider was forced to withdraw, but could have a significant impact on how the rest of the Dauphine pan out in the last 3 stages.