Fabian Cancellara’s Tour de France is over following a massive crash involving dozens of riders which saw the stage neutralised for 10 minutes. Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez went on claim the dramatic stage.
Britain's Chris Froome, who seized the overall leader's yellow jersey from Cancellara, was second in the same time and France's Alexis Vuillermoz finished third, four seconds behind after the 159.5-kilometre stage from Antwerp to the vicious, 1.3km sharp ascent of the concluding Mur de Huy.
Dan Martin moved up to 20th place overall, two minutes and six seconds behind Froome after finishing four seconds behind Froome on the stage in fourth. Team Sky's Nicolas Roche is 112th, 11:18 behind the overall leader.
Frenchman Thibaut Pinot's hopes of a podium finish in Paris took a major blow when he finished one minute 32 seconds behind.
Switzerland’s Cancellara confirmed later that his Tour was over due to a fractured back.
"This is incredibly disappointing for me," Cancellara said on the Trek website.
"The team was on a high with the yellow jersey and were very motivated to defend it. We have had a lot of crashes and injuries since the start of the season, and we finally had a great 24 hours, but now it's back to bad luck. One day you win, one day you lose."
Cancellara suffered a near identical injury in the E3 Harelbeke race in March.
"It was very hard to come back in shape after my crash in Harelbeke and getting the confidence," he added.
"The yellow jersey gave me a huge boost for the cobblestone stage tomorrow. I guess I have to keep the positive and look forward to the second part of the season."
The crash occured when FDJ rider William Bonnet of France fell off his bike after seemingly touching a wheel in front of him and others all around him were brought down.
Cancellara was one of several top names to hit the tarmac, along with Australian Simon Gerrans and Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, who called time on the race.
Bonnet was taken away by the race medical staff on a stretcher, but he was conscious.
"He's lucid, he's wearing a neck brace out of precaution," said Bonnet's FDJ sports director Thierry Bricaud.
At one point, Team Sky riders accelerated before Cancellara had made his way back to a bunch that was riding at the minimum pace required when a race is neutralised.
Organisers then decided to stop the race altogether and the peloton came to a halt 82km from the finish before resuming their ride.
Froome paid tribute to his team-mates for helping him to avoid the crash, saying on Eurosport: "A huge thank you to my team-mates today - they just turned themselves inside out to keep me always at the front of the race.
"Today was treacherous, lots of crashes again.
"I just couldn't be happier to be in yellow going into the cobbled stage tomorrow."
As for whether he can hold on to the lead until Paris, Froome added: "I'm not banking on anything at this point but I'd rather be in this position that I'm in now rather than having to make up time on yellow, so I'm really happy with the standings and just hope to get through these next few days without any major issues."
Race winner Rodriguez admitted the ascent up the Mur de Huy was one of his most challenging climbs.
"I wasn't sure that I could win but I realised that I had a chance and I accelerated and it felt as if it was the longest ever time I've spent going up the Mur de Huey," he said. "It was a really, really tough stage.
"We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the following stages because now I have lost my fear."
The Tour de France has three different riders in yellow after three stages for the first time since 1992, when Miguel Indurain, Alex Zulle and Richard Virenque all led the classification.
Just left the hospital with a huge disappointment #TDF2015 is over broke some bones on my back again as in spring. #L3/L4right side
— Fabian cancellara (@f_cancellara) July 6, 2015
