Tour de France riders eat and drink on their bicycle, and when they take a knock they sometimes just slow down while the race doctor leans out of a convertible to apply a soothing ointment.

Not always, however. After crashing on the second day in Belgium, Canadian Michael Barry elected quite understandably for some more private treatment from Team Sky’s doctor.

“I scraped myself up actually in quite an uncomfortable spot,” the 34-year-old from Toronto said with a slight laugh Monday, a rest day in Morzine. “I’m struggling with that. Road rash, cuts on my bum.

“Sitting in the saddle is not the most comfortable, especially climbing the mountains. ... I’ve had road rash all over my body before, but this is definitely an uncomfortable spot to have it.”

One can only imagine.

But such is life during the gruelling three-week Tour. Pain is a constant and it usually takes a broken limb for a rider to pull out.

Simon Gerrans, a teammate of Barry’s, had to quit the Tour on Monday after X-rays showed a broken arm.

The Australian went down seven kilometres into Sunday’s eighth stage from Station des Rousses to Morzine-Avoriaz. Gerrans, who had crashed twice previously in the week, still finished the 189-kilometre ride.

Despite his own pain, Barry has stuck to his task of supporting Team Sky star Bradley Wiggins, who is 14th in the overall standing.

While Barry has been hurting and patched-up stars such as Lance Armstrong have bounced out of contention, Canadian Ryder Hesjedal has managed to avoid the mayhem and cruise up the standings.

“Drama every day,” Hesjedal told The Canadian Press. “That’s the beauty of this event. From Day 1 until the last day. Every day is important and every day has some story. Lots of drama.

“This is exciting for me. We have a lot of racing to go. So we’ll just see what unfolds and if the first week is remembered more than the last or the middle.”

This week Hesjedal has staked the Canadian flag as high as third in the overall standings of the world’s most famous bike race.

“He’s riding incredibly well,” said Barry, who stands 107th overall, some 48 minutes behind the leader after 1,569.4 kilometres.

Hesjedal started the Tour as a member of Garmin-Transitions’ supporting cast for Christian Vande Velde but the American had to pull out with broken ribs after Stage 2.

The 29-year-old from Victoria promptly moved into the limelight in the third stage, which he led for a while before finishing fourth. That ride moved him up to fourth overall and earned him the most aggressive rider award for the day.

“I took the initiative on Stage 3 and have just been taking the benefit from that up until now,” the laidback Hesjedal said Monday. “Did some good rides the last couple of days.”

Hesjedal currently ranks sixth going into Stage 9 Tuesday, a 204.5-kilometre ride from Morzine-Avoriaz to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne that features another punishing climb.

Barry, who knows Hesjedal and lives near him in Spain, believes his fellow Canadian will continue to excel.

“I think he can finish in the first 10,” Barry said.

“It’s kind of uncharted territory for him. He’s never really ridden for the general classification in the Grand Tour [the top level of races]. But seeing the way he’s been racing throughout this season, he’s definitely been riding at a different level than he has in other years and he’s much, much stronger and just more consistent overall.

“So I think he can really do a great performance.”

On Sunday, when French leader Sylvain Chavanel faltered on a tough climb, Hesjedal needed to take just seven seconds off Australian Cadel Evans to grab the yellow jersey – only Alex Stieda and Steve Bauer have worn it for Canada before.

But Hesjedal also knew that young Luxembourg star Andy Schleck was just 23 seconds behind and poised to make a move.

Knowing his limits, Hesjedal eventually had to pull back from the lead pack as the stage neared its end.

“I knew it was going to be a tall order,” he said of the yellow jersey. “I’m pretty realistic, not to say I can’t hope or dream. I knew it was going to be a tough day, I wasn’t really fixated on that. It was more just trying to have the best ride possible.”

Schleck now stands second to Evans, 20 seconds behind, while Hesjedal trails the leader by 1 minute 11 seconds.

This year’s race has been so chaotic that at times battered members of the peleton – the pack of riders – looks as though they are retreating from a battleground rather than racing towards Paris.

Barry has raced in everything from the world championship and the Olympics to the Giro D’Italia and the Spanish Vuelta. But this is his first Tour de France.

“The actual racing isn’t much different than say the Tour of Italy or any other races we do. But one major difference is just it has been a little bit more chaotic. The peleton races more nervously just because I think the stakes are higher and everybody’s a little bit more on edge.”

Monday allowed Barry some valuable healing time. “Because I was sitting on the cuts every day, they weren’t really getting a good chance to recover or heal,” he said. Also on the plus side, Barry got to spend time with his parents. They have been watching the race roadside.