While Peter Sagan (Team Total Energy) made headlines with his first win of the season on stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse, a crash 4km before the finish in Grenchen destroyed the race plan of Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Caspar Asgreen (Quick Step-Alphavinil) had their race plan disrupted.

Schachmann will start on Wednesday's stage 4, but Asgreen's team confirmed he would not continue.

Schachmann was part of the lead group with Luke Rowe and Ineos Grenadier's Geraint Thomas in the second intermediate sprint with 10km to go, and it looked like smooth sailing for the overall standings.

He was only 4 seconds behind Stephen Williams (Bahrain Victorious) in second place overall. He scored two points in the intermediate sprint 10km from the line, but was unable to take advantage of the sprint finish and rode on the pavement with teammate Frederik Wandahl.

"Today was supposed to be a sprinter's stage, but with 178km and 3,100m of elevation gain, it was a very tough stage," said Jens Zemke, Bora-Hansgrohe's sport director, in a post-stage team statement. 'Even so, we wanted to give Marco a chance to sprint. Unfortunately, there was a big crash in the last 5km involving Max and Frederik. Marco quickly assessed the situation and handed the bike over to Max, which was a real shame for both riders. We promised ourselves more today and we were hoping for a better result."

Schachmann managed to finish, but was 53 seconds behind Sagan's winning time and 55 seconds behind Williams, dropping him 15 places in the overall standings. Vandahl did not complete the stage until more than three minutes later.

Three Quick Step Alfa Vinyl riders were also involved in the same crash. Asgreen, who was in 17th place overall after the first two days of racing, was 34 seconds behind the GC lead and unable to continue.

"As a result of the crash, Kasper suffered multiple road rash on his arms and legs and a deep gash on his left knee that required stitches. After further medical examination, it has been decided that he will not race Wednesday's stage 4, Brunnen, in order to allow his body to recover," the team said in a statement.

The 27-year-old Dane expressed his disappointment at not being able to continue in the Tour de Suisse, writing in the team report, "I have been feeling good the past few days and was looking forward to the upcoming stages. I want to thank the team's medical staff and wish him a speedy recovery. Best of luck to my teammates."