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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Lawrence Ostlere

Tour de France 2016: Greg Van Avermaet wins stage five – as it happened

Greg van Avermaet celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the fifth stage.
Greg van Avermaet celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the fifth stage. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP

You can read our stage five report here:

That’s all from me, thanks for reading. I will leave you with confirmation that Greg Van Avermaet will wear yellow tomorrow – and with a lead of more than five minutes he may be wearing it for a few days to come:

Stage five – top 10

That elite group of favourites did not include Vincenzo Nibali, who was one of the victims of a brutal day’s racing. He has lost some significant time and Astana may now prioritise Fabio Aru.

Contador will lose another 10 seconds or so as his struggles in this Tour go on. Movistar front the main pack as they approach the finish and a sprint breaks out, but most come through together, including Nairo Quintana and Chris Froome.

Updated

Thomas De Gendt finishes second and now there is another race going on: the peloton has picked up the pace as the finish nears and Alberto Contador is feeling the effects, falling off the back of the group.

Greg van Avermaet wins stage five!

The Belgian rider powers up the slight incline to the finish. Five and a half hours after leaving Limoges Greg Van Avermaet crosses the line, sitting up and punching the air. A brilliant display and the yellow jersey will be his on the start line tomorrow.

Greg van Avermaet celebrates as he crosses the finish line.
Greg van Avermaet celebrates as he crosses the finish line. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP

Updated

1km remaining: Van Avermaet descends to the flamme rouge before the final climb as fans line behind barriers to cheer him home.

2km remaining: Van Avermaet is up out of his seat, his bike swaying from side to side under him as attacks the incline in the sunshine. A Belgian flag flaps perilously close to his face but he’s unfazed. This has been an extremely impressive show by the 31-year-old rider who won the Tirreno–Adriatico in March and is showing that form again.

3km remaining: Serge Pauwels did indeed crash but is back in the saddle:

4km remaining: Van Avermaet has built up a 1min 50sec lead over De Gendt and this is surely his stage now. He stares down at the road beneath his handlebars and grimaces. This is a gruelling uphill finish but the yellow jersey will be sweet reward.

5km remaining: Van Avermaet is still in control. Thomas De Gendt has been awarded the most combative rider of the day, while Serge Pauwels and Cyril Gautier have reportedly crashed on the descent from Perthus though there have been no pictures to confirm it. The finish awaits:

Updated

6km remaining: Majka kicks away from that secondary group who have been caught between the leaders and the peloton for much of the day. The Tinkoff rider is looking to bridge the gap to De Gendt but surely it is too late to catch Van Avermaet out in front.

8km remaining: Van Avermaet takes a tight, blind left corner from the mountain descent on to a short section of flat highway, before beginning the climb up the Col de Font de Cère.

10km remaining: Second-placed Thomas De Gendt has managed to keep clear of the secondary breakaway pack which is led by Majka, Huzarski and Grivko – but they are closing in.

Updated

12km remaining: Van Avermaet breathes a sigh of relief as he begins to descend. He sits low and leans into the winding corners. The 31-year-old is surely heading to a memorable stage victory and ownership of the yellow jersey – with an advantage of several minutes. Around 6min back down the road, Sky have taken over chasing duties from Movistar at the head of the peloton.

The peloton has built up a 3min lead over Vincenzo Nibali and that will be a huge blow to his hopes of contending for the yellow jersey. The other main GC riders, including Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana, are still in that shrinking main pack 6min behind the leader Van Avermaet.

15km remaining: Greg Van Avermaet looks in great condition, pumping to the top of the Pethus where he will pick up the King of the Mountains points before descending towards the final climb and the finish at the Col de Font de Cère.

Van Avermaet won one stage in last year’s Tour, beating Peter Sagan to the line:

Tour de France 2015: stage 13

And just like that, Greg Van Avermaet attacks! He leaves Thomas De Gendt trailing on the Col du Perthus. The BMC rider is going to try and grab the yellow jersey with both hands.

Updated

Van Avermaet and De Gendt power on. They are 3min clear of their nearest challengers and it will be a straight shootout between the pair for the stage win if they can keep up this impressive performance.

20km remaining: Several more riders have been shed from the back of the peloton and more still will go when they reach the Col du Perthus ahead. Movistar continue to put their foot down and the gap to the leaders is down to 6min 50sec.

The leading pair descend, De Gendt and Van Avermaet sharing the load as they lean across sweeping let and right corners towards the foot of the next climb, the short sharp Col du Perthus.

25km remaining: The peloton is squeezing more and more time from the leading trio of Grivko, Van Avermaet and De Gendt – the gap is down to less than 7min now. There is still a secondary group in between the peloton and the leaders, fronted by Rafal Majka. The camera zooms in on the yellow-clad Peter Sagan who is clearly having trouble and might just have thrown in the towel for the day.

Peter Sagan is one of those struggling, as is Vincenzo Nibali. The testing climax to this stage five is already taking its toll as the peloton ups its pace and continues to shrink. It is Movistar who are cracking the whip at the nose of the pack. Chris Froome can be seen pumping his legs while Richie Porte, Alberto Contador, and most of the GC main men are there.

King of the Mountains

Van Avermaet and De Gendt put in one past push to pass the KoM points marker at the top of Pas de Peyrol – De Gendt is allowed to take maximum points and he is going to be wearing polka dots tomorrow. Van Avermaet has his eyes firmly fixed on yellow.

Updated

30km remaining: Van Avermaet and De Gendt turn the screw and Grivko has had enough. The Astana rider fades away down the hill as the Belgian duo take on the lead. Tony Gallopin is one of those in the pack of 20 or so that have slipped away from the back of the peloton.

The incline has creeped up to its highest point of the Tour so far, above 10% in parts, and Grivko, Van Avermaet and De Gendt are having to dig in. Greg Van Avermaet is up out of his seat swaying from side to side as he attacks the ascent in the beating sun.

Astana’s Andriy Grivko, perhaps fed up with Van Avermaet and De Gendt ganging up on him for King of the Mountains points, seems to have removed himself from leading duties and is happy to sit on the wheels of his fellow breakawayers. That is not going to endear himself to the Belgian riders – and it seems to be contributing to their shrinking advantage. The peloton are now within 10min of the leading trio.

Grivko, Van Avermaet and De Gendt are climbing the Pas de Peyrol. Now the going gets tough:

That added impetus has come courtesy of Movistar and particularly Alejandro Valverde digging in and putting in an aggressive stint on the front of the peloton. It has slashed the gap to the leading trio from 15min down to within 11min in a very short space of time.

40km remaining: Mark Cavendish has slipped off the back with one or two others as the peloton up their pace.

King of the Mountains

De Gendt attacks and neither Grivko nor Van Avermaet attempt to stop him taking the KoM points at the top of the Col du Neronne. De Gendt has polka dots in his sights it seems, while Van Avermaet is eyeing yellow. Name That Breakaway: “Obscure medical manoeuvres (similar to Hiemlich) for removing bodily blockages,” emails Tom Charnock. “As in ‘I sat down heavily doctor and I desperately need a Grivko’.”

From left, the breakaway trio of Ukraine’s Andriy Grivko, Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet and Belgium’s Thomas De Gendt.
From left, the breakaway trio of Ukraine’s Andriy Grivko, and Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet and Thomas De Gendt. Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images

Grivko, Van Avermaet and De Gendt are still working well together and are nearing the top of the Col du Neronne where King of the Mountains points are up for grabs. Around 12min 30sec down the road, Sky’s Luke Rowe is back on the nose of the peloton. This graph shows you just how much work Tinkoff and Sky have got through this afternoon:

Despite having completed most of this stage there are still four climbs to go, and the testing Peyrol descent near the finish.

The Pas de Peyrol descent.

Niche filet mignon references.

50km remaining: Grivko, Van Avermaet and De Gendt are still leading this sunny stage five in central France as they near the highest point on the Col de Neronne. They are 2min 45sec from the six chasers behind, and 13min 30sec ahead of the peloton – that gap has decreased a little in the past 10km as Team Sky and Movistar push them on.

“Just catching up with the RR,” emails Sam Trzyzewski (which as we learnt yesterday stands for Roleur Report), “so sorry if this is a bit late, but surely Majka, Pauwels, De Gendt, Sicard, van Avarmaet, Grivko, Gautier, Huzarskiv, and Vachon is the Netherlands’ famous bronze medal-winning baseball team from the 1992 Summer Olympics.” I remember them.

Eurosport are discussing filet mignon.

A filet mignon wrapped with bacon topped with grilled shrimp. Yum.
A filet mignon wrapped with bacon topped with grilled shrimp. Yum. Photograph: Alamy

Mike Summers-Smith has got creative: “Grivko van Avermaet de Gent was a Dutch nobleman and courtier who wrote a scandalous account of the private life of William of Orange.”

That gap between the peloton and the leaders remains stable at around 15min despite Sky’s attempts to cut the advantage. What is looking very likely is that Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) will be wearing the yellow jersey tomorrow; he is the highest ranked breakaway rider and was only 18sec down on overall leader Peter Sagan coming into the stage.

Updated

There is a terrifically awkward interview with Portugal’s Oliver Naesen this morning which has just been broadcast. He is asked what he thinks of his country’s chances in their big Euro 2016 semi-final against Wales tonight, to which he replies that he is not interested in football.

The peloton finally reaches the intermediate sprint point and Bryan Coquard, so so close to winning yesterday’s stage, bolts from the pack to scoop six points.

The secondary leading pack and upmarket drinks selection of Sicard, Vachon, Pauwels, Majka, Gautier and Huzarski have maintained their gap from the leaders at around 2min 35sec. Meanwhile, the latest from Name That Breakaway:

70km remaining: The gap between the leading trio and the peloton has reached a new peak of 15min as the leaders approach the Col de Neronne, a drawn out but gentle incline over 7km.

Updated

The Belgians are ganging up on their Ukranian breakaway partner: Andriy Grivko looks on as Greg Van Avermaet is first through the intermediate sprint point. Robin Hazlehurst is back for more: “If the three leaders are Dutch cheeses, then the chasers Rafal Majka, Cyril Gautier, Serge Pauwels, Romain Sicard and Florian Vachon are a selection of fancy cognacs, liqueurs and ports to accompany them, while Bartosz Huzarski is a very exclusive crystalline vodka. As a chaser, obviously.”

King of the Mountains

Thomas De Gendt is the first to the line at the top of the category three Cote du Puy Saint-Mary, and collects the two points on offer.

King of the Mountains leader Jasper Stuyven has been involved in a crash in the bunch, though it doesn’t seem to be serious and he is quickly back on his back.

Our cycling correspondent William Fotheringham has tipped his tactics hat to Tinkoff, who are letting Sky’s Ian Stannard and Luke Rowe do much of the work on the front of the peloton.

The pace has been seriously quick at the front – they covered 50km in the third hour of this stage at an average speed of more than 43km/hr. The leading trio have opened up their advantage from the peloton to 13min 30sec.

Grivko, Van Avermaet, De Gendt: cheese, explorers, or European diplomats?

75km remaining: The leaders are now 13min clear of the peloton where Sagan, Froome, Quintana and the other main GC contenders reside. There are plenty of peaks and troughs between now and the finish for the peloton to squeeze back some time but they are leaving it late. In between the leaders and the main pack is a group of six, including Cyril Gautier, Rafal Majka and Romain Sicard, who are around 2min off the front.

The leading trio have begun the category three Cote du Puy Saint-Mary climb. King of the Mountains points are up for grabs and it is quickly followed by an intermediate sprint, though that might not interest Grivko, Van Avermaet and De Gendt hugely.

Updated

Great Britain’s Ian Stannard rides on the front of the main pack ahead of the Tinkoff team.
Great Britain’s Ian Stannard rides on the front of the main pack ahead of the Tinkoff team. Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images

The peloton is more than 12min back now with only 85km remaining. They are still reluctant to close the gap and it is looking more and more likely that the stage win will be up for grabs between those nine riders who earlier had broken clear.

Updated

The sun is shining in central France as Grivko takes over from Van Avermaet at the front of the leading trio. Meanwhile in Name That Breakaway news:

Updated

As it stands

So, 90km from the finish at Le Lioran and with plenty of climbing and descending left to tackle, Andriy Grivko (Astana), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) have made a break for it. They are around 1min in front of a group of six riders which includes Rafal Majka and Romain Sicard, and around 10min clear of the main peloton featuring Peter Sagan, Chris Froome and the rest. At present Van Avermaet is well-placed to take hold of the yellow jersey but there is lots of riding to be done between now and the finish.

Grivko leads the breakaway.
De Gendt leads the breakaway. Photograph: Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

In case you missed it, here is the clip of the BBC’s commentators making a splendid job of a nightmare situation:

100km remaining: The gap between the leaders to the peloton has also significantly increased in the past 10km. The main pack slowed considerably through the feed zone and have been timed at 9min 38sec behind De Gendt at company. We will keep a close eye on whether that gap narrows over the next 10km.

The leading trio have increased the advantage over their former breakaway pals to 40sec as Thomas De Gendt puts his foot down.

Updated

The race to be crowned king of the mountains really begins today. Jasper Stuyven has added a point to his tally this morning and there will be more on offer at the category three Côte du Puy Saint-Mary around 50km ahead.

Polka dot jersey standings

Jasper Stuyven 4 points
Paul Voss 2
Armindo Fonseca 1
Markel Irizar 1
Vegard Breen 1
Roman Kreuziger 1

Updated

Some valiant nine-man #NameThatBreakaway efforts coming in, though our new trio of Van Avermaet, De Gendt and Grivko must prove an easier target, surely.

All is not well at the front. The breakaway members have not been sharing the load and they’ve fractured. Andriy Grivko (Astana), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) are now out in front on their own, with the other six together around 20sec back. The peloton, led by Sky’s Ian Stannard, is 6min 20sec behind the leading trio.

Some of the best images from this morning’s action:

The pack cross a bridge
The pack cross a bridge at the beginning of the stage from Limoges. Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images
Belgium’s Thomas De Gendt
Belgium’s Thomas De Gendt leads an initial charge, which was quickly reeled in. Photograph: Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images
Tinkoff’s Peter Sagan (left) and Trek-Segafredo ride Jasper Stuyven natter
Tinkoff’s Peter Sagan (left) and Trek-Segafredo ride Jasper Stuyven natter before start of the race. Photograph: Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters

Robin Hazlehurst has thought this one through: “The surnames of the breakaway today are a bit too much of an explosion on the scrabble board, but the first names work well: Thomas, Rafal, Serge, Romain, Greg, Andriy, Cyril, Bartosz and Florian are clearly are a group of European steam engines in a new post-Brexit take on Thomas the tank engine, showing little kids that big Eastern European tender engines like Romain, Andriy and Bartosz can work well together with cheeky little Franco-Belgian tank engines like Cyril and Florian. Thomas is sulking and has decided not to play, and he has walled himself up in a tunnel.”

You could make a case for Rafal Majka being the slight favourite for the stage victory, even at this early juncture. He is part of a breakaway with climbers’ legs and experienced heads, and he has had success with this type of up and down stage in the past. Majka has won three Tour de France stages in his career to date, including this power surge in the Pyrenees last year:

Tour de France 2015: Rafal Majka breaks clear to win stage

Updated

A reminder of our breakaway riders: Andriy Grivko (Astana), Rafal Majka (Tinkoff), Cyril Gautier (AG2R-La Mondiale), Greg van Avermaet (BMC), Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data), Bartosz Huzarski (Bora-Argon 18), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Romain Sicard (Direct Energie) and Florian Vachon (Fortuneo-Vital Concept). Given all that, you have to admire the effort:

80km completed: The breakaway group have maintained their 6min 20sec lead over the rest as they ride through Parc Millevaches en Limousin, an expanse of marshland and forest in the centre of the country.

Updated

I have been nudged in the direction of this video by Simon Schuler on Twitter. It is an onboard descent of the Pas de Peyrol, which could play a key part in the final section of this stage five later today.

Onboard descent: the Pas de Peyrol

Paul Cutting has tweeted with the question on everyone’s lips. Nine seems a stretch, Paul, but I won’t deny anyone willing to step up to the plate:

50km completed: The breakaway’s lead has been established at around 6min 30sec. Team Sky’s Luke Rowe is on the front of the peloton and is joined by a small army of Tinkoff riders wearing fluorescent green (with a dab of Peter Sagan’s yellow) who are working hard to prevent the gap from widening. At the back Sam Bennett, who fell behind apparently suffering with the injuries he picked up on day one, has recovered to rejoin the main pack.

If you would like some lunch time* reading, look no further than this piece by Maggie Mertens on Marianne Martin and the Tour de France Féminin:

When Marianne Martin graduated from the University of Colorado, her father offered to give her money as a graduation gift. “I said: ‘Great, because I want to buy a racing bike,’” Martin remembers. Instead, he gave her a camera. “I ended up taking out a loan to buy my first racing bike. It was $600, used.

At first, Martin’s father was not a big fan of the idea of his daughter racing. In the early 1980s, women’s competitive cycling was not a common pursuit. “But my mom was over-the-top amazing about it. When I heard about the first person to ride across America, I wondered if a woman could do that. And she said: ‘You can do anything if you put your mind to it.’”

By 1983, Martin had heard of something she really wanted to put her mind to: the Tour de France.

But that was a long shot. Martin had started racing for fun in college. In Boulder, where she attended college, cycling was a big deal. She first saw a race while working at a hotel and after that she cycled to stay fit. Soon enough someone convinced her to try a race herself. “I ended up doing really well,” Martin says. “It was an uphill climb and I found that cycling came pretty naturally to me.”

*It is not quite lunch time yet I suppose, but what do you call the time shortly before lunchtime? Brunch time? No one has ever said that. Also I’m aware that if you are not in the UK it could be a completely different time. Breakfast time in New York. Dinner time in Japan. It’s probably night time in Hawaii. I’d love to be in Hawaii. Anyway. You can read the full piece here:

The breakaway

The runaway group are making this move stick and the peloton seems happy to let them go – for now. It includes several notable names: Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) has picked up Tour stage wins in these circumstances before, and Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) and Romain Sicard (Direct Energie) are all very handy to have taking stints on the front. The highest ranked breakawayer in the general classification is BMC’s Greg van Avermaet who is 20th, 18sec down on the overall leader Peter Sagan, but he won’t be a huge concern to the major GC contenders right now. The others in the lead group are Andriy Grivko (Astana), Cyril Gautier (AG2R-La Mondiale), Bartosz Huzarski (Bora-Argon 18) and Florian Vachon (Fortuneo-Vital Concept). They’ve built up an advantage of around 6min and Team Sky have reacted with Luke Rowe hitting the front of the peloton.

So far today

The riders have been going for about 45 minutes (covering 30km) and it has been an aggressive start with several foiled attempts to breakaway off the front. All 198 riders started this morning, the first time no one has retired in the first four days for 11 years, though Irish rider Sam Bennett has been struggling with an injury he picked up on day one and has dropped off the back of the peloton. They’ve completed the first of the day’s six categorised climbs, at Côte de Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat where Jasper Stuyven has added a King of the Mountains point to his tally, a classification which he already leads. And now a group of nine have finally managed to get away from the main pack, building a lead of around 2min.

Updated

Stage five – Limoges to Le Lioran (216km)

The lingering image from the first few days of the 2016 Tour is of sprinters shoulder to shoulder, powering to the finish, muscle-men crashing over the line with barely a tyre between them. The sprinters have been in the spotlight – but this Tour has been designed for the world’s best climbers and their ability will be put to the test today on route to Le Lioran. It may not be a brutal stage but the six categorised climbs, including the Pas de Peyrol which precedes a testing descent, will hand a well-organised breakaway the chance of a stage win. Chris Froome and the other main GC contenders will have watchful eyes on each other as this Tour takes its first foray into the mountains.

Here is more on what’s coming up in stage five, courtesy of our interactive stage-by-stage guide:

The first mountain climbing of any note, with the Col du Puy Mary and Col du Perthuis in the first half of the stage. There will be two races today: one to get in the break, as it will decide the stage win and will definitely see a King of the Mountains contender emerge: Pierre Rolland, maybe, or Thomas Voeckler. Those bidding for the yellow jersey will probably be content to finish together.

Stage five – Limoges to Le Lioran (216km)
Stage five – Limoges to Le Lioran (216km) Photograph: Guardian Interactive

Updated

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