Tour de France stage 5 Live – Cavendish and the sprinters return for flat finish
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Insane bike-handling skills from Pogačar to keep this one up.
GC teams coming to the fore, Ineos, UAE and Visma taking over with the nerves upping in the wet conditions. Mark Cavendish is also well-positioned with his Astana boys. Not even a chance to put on a rain jacket with the rain worsening.
Two-man breakaway is nearing it’s end with their lead just going under the one-minute mark now. Good effort from Russo and Vercher to get stage 5 going.
50km to go
A look back at the aftermath of the crash with none of those involved too badly hurt. Here’s Gregor Muhlberger, Nelson Oliveira and Sébastien Grignard getting going again.
Pedersen, Philipsen and Bennett are all here too. Here comes the sprint to the line and it’s the Dane at the front. Close finish between Pedersen and Bennett but it was the Lidl-Trek man who got there in the end. Philipsen’s positioning not ideal.
Uncontested sprint between the two men in front, with Russo rolling across it first. Can’t say the same for the peloton behind. Big charge from Intermarché for Girmay.
Everyone is back from the crash and we are back to normal. No blame to the Slovenian just to clarify, as he was avoiding crashing himself due to road furniture that he had no vision of.
It was actually yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar who started the domino affect of the crash which rippled through the back of the peloton. He nearly went head first into a traffic island in the middle of the road but made a late move to the right of it. Those behind him came off worst but there looks to have been no serious injuries from the incident thankfully.
Crash
60km to go
Both the pace and tension building up now for Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck who lead the peloton. It’s a big day for the Belgian team after nearly everything went wrong in the opening sprint on stage 3. Van der Poel had a late puncture so couldn’t help in the lead out and fast man Philipsen went down in the crash 2km from the line.
Puncture and a change for Ben Healy (EF Educaton-EasyPost) but it won’t be much of a problem to get back in for the Irishman.
70km to go
Russo takes the single point on top of the KOM sprint, crossing the line alongside Vercher with a 2:30 lead on the slow chasing peloton.
Still Dillier and Declercq leading the peloton who are no 2:44 behind with the two-man breakaway finally reaching the lower slopes of the first categorised climb – the Cat.4 Côte du Cheval Blanc.
Big news on Astana Qazaqstan’s future coming out from our team on the ground at the Tour. Read all the details of their new investors here:
The rain has started to fall on the two men out in front, which could make things all the more sketchier as the pace builds towards the sprint finish.
Pogačar and Roglič debriefing after the hellish mountain battle on yesterday’s stage 4. They won’t be back fighting for the GC until the stage 7 time trial.
80km to go
If Cavendish achieves history today and nets a 35th stage win at the Tour, it must be said how every detail of his setup has been optimised to the absolute maximum, with Astana not leaving any stone left unturned in their pursuit of the record. Read about the micro changes and aero gains he’s looked for thanks to our great tech team:
90km to go
Here’s two former German national champions sharing a chinwag in the peloton. It’ll be an easier for Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates) after his great work chasing the break and pacing for Pogačar yesterday, while Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) will be looking to contest the bunch sprint.
100km to go
Russo and Vercher are onto this section of uncategorised climbing with a 3:30 lead on the chasing peloton.
The gap has started to come down to the two leaders, with it now down to 3:30.
We’ve just seen a near miss for Robbe Ghys (Alpecin-Deceuninck) going over a small bump in the road after almost crashing. He managed to hold it up thankfully and has been laughing at himself to the cameras.
Here’s a look at Wout van Aert before the start of today’s stage. He looked good on stage 1 and was emotional after returning to the podium of a Tour de France stage on stage 1 after an arduous period of injury recovery in spring. Van Aert amazingly hasn’t won a Tour stage since stage 20 of the 2022 race when he triumphed in the ITT to Rocamadour.
110km to go
We’ll be seeing a lot of Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Tim Declercq (Lidl-Trek) today as they are the two domestiques left to hold the gap at the desired level.
As the peloton leaves the Alps, it’s important to note that the two leaders Vercher and Russo are both local riders, born in Lyon and would’ve grown up riding these roads.
120km to go
Yellow details everywhere for UAE Team Emirates on stage 5, right down to the bottles for race leader Tadej Pogačar.
While we have the chance, he’s a look at final few kilometres of today’s stage. A few late roundabouts will require the best positioning from the sprint teams, while a kink in the road with 300m to go makes the right-hand barrier the best place to fully open up your effort. Hopefully this won’t cause any danger as it did in the opening sprint stage of the 2023 Tour where Philipsen closed-off Van Aert to the barriers, causing him to break.
130km to go
Lidl-Trek, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Astana Qazaqstan are the teams leading the peloton, with Visma-Lease a Bike and DSM-Firmenich PostNL just behind. They are working for Pedersen, Philipsen, Cavendish, Van Aert and Jakobsen respectively.
The French duo making sure their sponsors are on the TV have been allowed to build a 4:22 gap starts heading west in the direction of Lyon.
Current situation 143km to go
With Groupama-FDJ possibly riding away with the combaitivity prize off the front of the peloton, fellow French team TotalEnergies have sent Mattéo Vercher to chase him down so they are represented.
150km to go
In a non-surprising response, Alpeicn-Deceuninck sniffed any sort of a real move and they’ve closed down the small split. Pace is up at 57kph in the peloton now.
We had all come back together but suddenly, some of the French teams have decided to go racing. Groupama-FDJ have two men moving up the road, with EF, Cofidis and a few other joining them.
More groups have rolled slowlly off the front with just a few rouleurs showing their strength in such an easy start. Tim Declercq (Lidl-Trek) and Kobe Gossens (Intermarché-Wanty) are among them but it still isn’t any sort of committed move.
Some jokes being shown here from World Champion Van der Poel and yellow jersey Pogačar as they both come right to the front to ‘pace’. Such an odd beginning to a stage but this is what happens after the most brutal start to the Tour in years and with a nailed on sprint stage on the menu.
160km to go
Pace is back down to 30kph as the peloton fans out on this wide road. We’re still heading gradually downhill for a lot of this opening phase, with a good chance for a nature break coming now.
Here’s all four classification leaders after stage 4 of the Tour. Remco Evenepoel in white as best young rider, Jonas Abrahamsen in the green points jersey and Tadej Pogačar in the maillot jaune. The polka-dot jersey and KOM classification is being donned by Valentin Madouas who isn’t pictured, but he is only wearing it on behalf of Abrahamsen who also leads that contest for the moment
Finally, we may actually have a big of a change in pace. There are small splits forming with Declercq deciding to test the legs and open things up a bit. No real pace or commitment in the group but perhaps a willingness to not let the day go on forever.
Ayuso and Lazkano are back in from their fun off the front. Even TotalEnergies have decided to do nothing as their team radio comes in and confirms that there is no point wasting the energy.
It is so slow in the peloton that Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) is actually putting on more layers. It’s been a disappointing Tour for him so far, with any sort of GC effort ending yesterday. Now that he’s 12 minutes down, he should switch full focus on winning a second stage to add to his Alpe d’Huez triumph from 2022.
Tim ‘El Tractor’ Declercq has assumed his position on the front of the peloton, with Victor Campenaerts now even faking an attack at the start of stage 5. Proper non serious ‘racing’ so far if you can even call it that. Imagine this will continue for some time.
170km to go
Big headwind in the valley so no on is fancying any sort of move. Juan Ayuso and Oier Lazkano have started racing off the front and having all sorts of fun, with the latter just bunnyhopping over the island in the middle of the road. Not a serious attack by any means.
A look at an incredibly calm peloton on stage 5 of the Tour de France. We’re far from full gas and actually just at full conversation for now.
As it was on stage 3, Mark cavendish is back off the bike and in full discussion with his team mechanics at the car. A real tinkerer of his position and he’s trying to make sure his Willier setup is absolutely perfect to the very millimetre to be as fast as humanly possible.
All 174 riders who finished stage 4 have started stage 5 which is great news. Still only 2 abandons so far at the 2024 Tour de France.
Well, the answer to whether anyone would go on the attack has been provided. It was a no. Full status quo in the peloton and it looks like all eyes will be on the latter stages of the route.
177.4km to go
Here’s Pogačar back in the yellow race leader’s jersey after he reclaimed it on stage 4. He’ll be off duty just trying to stay safe throughout the fifth stage.
Pretty mild conditions at the start of the day which will be welcomed, with windy and cloudy conditions. 2km until the race reaches the départ réel.
Stage 5 Start
We saw history on stage 3 when Biniam Girmay won the first sprint stage and the first for a Black African at the Tour de France. Here’s what he had to say before stage 5 to Eurosport:
Not only is Pogačar in a full yellow skinsuit as the new leader of the race, but UAE’s dominant team performance has unsurprisingly landed them the lead of the teams classificaiton – yellow helmets all round for the men in white.
Here’s Cavendish ahead of the start where he was met with a great reception again. Could today be the day the record 35th stage win finally comes?
Here’s what Wout van Aert had to say pre-stage 5 thanks to Visma’s social media. After a day of struggling in the mountains, he’s unsure whether he will go for the sprint.
More news coming out of Soudal-QuickStep with the confidence growing in the team after Remco Evenepoel’s strong performance on stage 5. He’s lived up to the billing so far on his Tour debut, with a focus now turning to staying safe until the stage 7 time trial where he will go all in racing his favoured discipline.
Here’s Groenewegen back in the “Batman” shades on stage with Tour de France on stage announcer Marc Chavet.
Under half an hour until the stage of stage 5 now.
After the crash-marred sprint on stage 3 into Turin, there will be multiple teams who didnd’t even get the chance to see their sprinter in action. Notably Astana with Mark Cavendish, Alpecin with Jasper Philipsen and Visma with Wout van Aert. It’s going to be another day of building tension until the chaos breaks loose in the final run to the line.
Bahrain-Victorious were having fun on the podium with Wout Poels announcing late arrivals Pello Bilbao and Jack Haig to the crowds in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. Their focus will be all in on Phil Bauhaus today, after the big German sprinter only managed sixth in the first flat opportunity in stage 3.
Here’s the profile of today’s 177.4km stage, with a downhill start making it difficult for a big break to get away. The last Cat.4 climb could give the less pure sprinter’s teams an opportunity to try and sting the legs of the heavier fast men, but it arrives quite far from the finish so shouldn’t play too much of a role.
Dylan Groenewegen is back with his new sunglasses at the team presentation after causing some controversy when he debuted them on stage 3, so maybe the UCI has allowed them after all:
For more reaction to the ominous UAE team…
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