Chris Froome speaks
“It’s an amazing feeling to be back in yellow, but I am aware the race is far, far from over,” says Froome. On the subject of Geraint Thomas being in second place and Sky having the one-two, he said: “It gives us options going forward in being able to play both cards.”
Froome goes on to say that Sky made have made a little bit of a mistake in letting Fabio Aru get away with his attack at the finish, but doesn’t seem overly concerned. “Fabio showed in the Dauphine that he’s in great form and he is going to have to be one of the guys we mark very closely in the next two weeks,” he says.
Stage 5 top 10
- 1. Fabio Aru (Italy / Astana) 3:44:06sec
- 2. Daniel Martin (Ireland / Quick-Step) +16sec
- 3. Chris Froome (Britain / Team Sky) +20sec
- 4. Richie Porte (Australia / BMC Racing)
- 5. Romain Bardet (France/AG2R) +24sec
- 6. Simon Yates (Britain/Orica) +26sec
- 7. Rigoberto Uran (Colombia/Cannondale)
- 8. Alberto Contador (Spain/Trek)
- 9. Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) +34
- 10. Geraint Thomas (Britain/Team Sky) +40
General Classification after Stage 5
Chris Froome takes over in yellow on a day when his rivals Nairo Quintana and Alberto Contador both lost time on the final climb.
David Clark has an interesting question: “Have there ever been five riders who have English as first language in the first six of Le Tour?” he asks. “Probably not.”
Chris Froome in yellow: If BMC were trying to throw down a marker today, they failed dismally. They led the peloton to the foot of the day’s second and final climb at a ferocious lick and all their riders apart from Richie Porte were unable to keep up when Sky took over pace-making duties. The upshot? Chris Froome had plenty of assistance on the final climb, while Richie Porte had none. The duo finished at the same time, meaning that Froome takes the yellow jersey from Geraint Thomas.
Dan Martin speaks: “That’s a hell of a lot of seconds, thirds and fourths I’ve got in the Tour De France in the past two or three years now,” says the man who came second on the stage and is now fourth on GC. “This is not about confidence, it’s about calmness. I’m just enjoying my racing, I’m feeling no pressure at all. I’m just enjoying riding the Tour de France. The team’s on a real roll and I’ve got some of the best riders around me to support me.” He also congratulates Fabio Aru on a great ride and says the finish line came too early for him.
General Classification provisional top five
- 1. Chris Froome
- 2. Geraint Thomas +12sec
- 3. Fabio Aru +14sec
- 4. Dan Martin +25sec
- 5. Richie Porte +39sec
Stage 5 top five
- 1. Fabio Aru
- 2. Dan Martin +16sec
- 3. Chris Froome +20sec
- 4. Richie Porte
- 5. Romain Bardet +24
Chris Froome takes over the yellow jersey
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but even with the benefit of the 20-20 kind, I’m still none the wiser as to what the hell BMC were doing wasting so much energy dictating a ferocious pace at the front of the peloton today, only to put Chris Froome in yellow. If there’s method to their madness, I can’t see it and I don’t think I’m the only one.
FABIO ARU WINS THE STAGE!
The Italian champion’s attack proves brilliantly timed and he holds on to win the stage for Astana. That was a fine ride. Dan Martin finishes a few seconds back in second.
Updated
Less than a kilometre to go: Fabio Aru attacks the final ramp and it looks like he’s going to make it!
1.2km to go: Fabio Aru continues to lead, chased by Froome, Martin, Porte and others. Nairo Quintana and Alberto Contador are both struggling.
1.5km to go: Froome attacks off the front of the chasing pack and Richie Porte tries to go with him. Dan Martin Joins them.
2km to go: Astana rider Fabio Aru attacks off the front and nobody goes with him! He opens a lead of 13 seconds but will he be able to stay clear?
3km to go: Kwiatkowski pulls to the side of the road after a decent shift at the front and Sky’s Mikel Nieve takes over pace-making duties. Geraint Thomas is tucked in behind him, with Chris Froome and Richie Porte are behind him.
3.7km: Jan Bakelants and Philippe Gilbert are caught and give each other congratulatory pats on the back as they’re absorbed into a bunch that’s shedding a steady stream of riders as a result of the pace being hammered out by Sky on this steep stairway to the sky.
4.1km to go: The gap is reduced to 14 seconds as Michał Kwiatkowski hammers out the tempo for Sky at the front of the bunch. Thibaut Pinot and Warren Barguil have both been dropped.
4.5km to go: The searing heat can’t helping these guys either and several are riding with their shirts unzipped and flapping in what passes for the breeze.
5.2km to go: It’s a hugely steep incline from the gun on this short but very tough climb. Bakelants and Gilbert are already out of their saddles as assorted riders are shelled out the back of the chasing bunch, which is being led by Dave Brailsford’s Skybots. The gap is down to 27 seconds.
The riders hit the final climb
5.9km to go: Bakelant and Gilbert hit the foot of the climb as BMC’s riders are crowded out of the front of the chasing pack. Quick-Step get their riders in position to help Dan Martin, who’ll fancy his chances here.
6.5km: Sky take over at the front of the bunch, with Nairo Quintana and his Movistar chums tucked in behind them.
7km to go: Orica-Scott’s riders drift to the front of the bunch, clearly hopeful of trying to give their Colombian rider Esteban Chavez a shot at winning today’s stage. The gap is 1min 07sec.
10km to go: On a descent leading to the foot of the final climb, Bakelants and Gilbert attempt to put more time between themselves and the rest of the field. Voeckler, Boasson Hagen, Van Baarle and Perichon are together on the road between the two leaders and the main bunch.
12.5km to go: Thomas Voeckler has a long conversation with himself as he watches Philippe Gilbert and Jan Bakelants pedal away into the distance, leaving him behind. The breakaway group has been blown apart and Gilbert and Bakelants are 1min 27sec clear of the posse.
13km to go: Philippe Gilbert celebrates his birthday with an attack off the front of the breakaway and is immediately followed by Thomas Voeckler.
16km to go: There’s 1o kilometres to go until the main climb of the day and it’s profile is pretty brutal: 1,000m featuring an opening ramp of 14% and a closing section at 20%.
17km to go: “It looks very difficult to see any of the breakaway holding on for victory,” says Sean Kelly, as the riders of Astana come upsides their BMC counterparts at the front of a bunch that is 1min 46sec behind the six-man breakaway.
22km to go: Our six-man breakaway have been together for 140 kilometres and remain 2min 13sec ahead of the chasing bunch, which is still being controlled by Richie Porte’s BMC team.
31km to go: The gap from the few to the many stands at 2min 35sec as the riders descend the first climb of the day ahead of their assault on the second.
William Fotheringham has a theory!
The Guardian’s man on Le Tour writes: “I’ve been trying to figure out why BMC are riding and I wonder if it’s because Philippe Gilbert would probably get yellow from that break,” he says. “If he did that he could well hold it as far as the final week. That would mean Quickstep controlling the race for much of the time, meaning that Sky could conserve their strength. In a sense, it’s better for BMC that Sky have the jersey and all that goes with it than a strong team like QS do. It’s a thought anyway.”
Whatever their reasons for doing so, back at the front of the bunch, BMC continue to make the pace.
45km to go: Our eight man breakaway is now a six-man breakaway, with De Gendt and Mickael Delage having been dropped. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data), Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors), Jan Bakelants (AG2R La Mondiale), Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fortuneo), Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) and Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac) lead today’s stage.
46km to go: Thomas De Gendt drops out of the breakaway and rejoins the peloton, stocking up on bidons for his team-mates along the way.
@bglendenning interesting point made by Neil in Munich....BMC director was on TV last evening and wished Ritchie was 10 seconds closer.
— DC (@DC_US55) July 5, 2017
Oops Dept! I’ve rather jumped the gun, there. The riders have just climbed Cote d’Esmoulieres, not ... the other one. Apologies!
52km to go: Jan Bakelants, who was last week forced to issue an apology after making extremely sexist and derogatory remarks about the Tour’s podium girls or tour hostesses in a newspaper interview, attacks off the front of the breakaway and is first over the summit of the first climb of the day, bagging himself two King of the Mountain points. Spare a thought for his queen.
Intermediate sprint result
- 1. Edvald Boasson Hagen 20 points,
- 2. Philippe Gilbert 17
- 3. Thomas De Gendt 15
- 4. Mickaël Delage 13
- 5. Jan Bakelants 11
- 6. Pierre-Luc Périchon 10
- 7. Dylan Van Baarle 9
- 8. Thomas Voeckler 8
- 9. Michael Matthews 7
- 10. Marcel Kittel 6
- 11. Alexander Kristoff 5
- 12. Rick Zabel 4
- 13. Arnaud Démare 3
- 14. Sonny Colbrelli 2
- 15. Jos van Emden 1
54km to go: With a lead of 1min 46sec, the breakaway group hit the first climb of note in this year’s Tour de France: the Cat 3
La Planche Des Belles Filles
Cote d’Esmoulieres (1,035m/5.9km/8.5%). Thomas Voeckler leads them up the hill, with Jan Bakelants on his wheel. Mickael Delage has been dropped.
Updated
57km to go: In the breakaway group, Edvald Boasson Hagen wins the intermediate sprint. Back in the peloton, Michael Matthews launches himself off the front and mops up the lion’s share of the small points and is followed over the line by Marcel Kittel.
60km to go: Behind the breakaway, with Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish conspicuous by their absence from the race (you might have heard about that, it’s been mentioned), the likes of Marcel Kittel, Alexander Kristoff and Arnaud Demare have made their way to the front of the peloton in a bid to mop up whatever points are left now that the green jersey in this year’s Tour is very much up for grabs.
61km to go: The gap is 2min 03sec and there’s three kilometres to go until the intermediate sprint. One of the following men will win it: Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data), Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors), Jan Bakelants (AG2R La Mondiale), Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fortuneo), Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie), Delage (FDJ), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac).
An email from Neil in Munich: “The BMC move isn’t that bad, sure they just want to put down a marker, but moreover they have probably targeted this for a stage win and Sky have let the break go with some decent climbers in it,” he writes. “BMC don’t want to let them get too far ahead due to the bonus seconds available for winning the stage that Porte can make up on Froome - especially with the final stage being TT too - hence the need to control the peloton and maximise their chances of reaping a good day’s work.”
72.3km to go: BMC continue to put in the hard yards at the front of the peloton, with the riders of Sky just behind them. The gap to the eight-man breakaway is 2min 14sec, the riders have completed almost 90 kilometres and we’re getting towards the business end of the stage. The intermediate sprint is at the 103km mark and precedes the first climb of the day: the Cat 3 Cote d’Esmoulieres (1,035m/5.9km/8.5%).
Updated
More on Sagan’s DQ: “What bothers me particularly about the decision is that none of the concessionaire’s are ex cyclists,” writes Bev Nicolson. “The difference between what a lay person thinks watching the footage and what an ex-pro bike rider thinks is quite striking. For rulings like the one yesterday and for questions about skin suits I think the make up of that group needs to change.”
@bglendenning makes sense for Porte to target this stage win, not least for the psychological "winner here wins overall" advantage.
— Jason Good (@JasonGood) July 5, 2017
81km to go: The breakaway riders pass through the feed zone, with several of the riders not bothering to take a musette. Being in the breakaway, they can treat their support cars as a kind of rolling buffet and don’t need to bother, although I’d have thought the only conceivable benefit of being a professional cyclist was the daily treat that is a bag full of unspecified edible and quaffable goodies.
On BMC’s power play: Think Richie Porte’s pushing for a stage winm” writes Michael Wilson. “He needs to cut back into Froome’s advantage at some point, why not here on a climb where he can go all out to the finish. Froome has benefit of additional time trial coming up so this wont be the last time we see BMC pushing the pace.”
And this from Josh Morris: “Either BMC think they can do what Sky can usually do, which is convincingly win the first mountain stage and put Porte in yellow,” he says. “The other possibility is that because they’re not loaded to the eyeballs with climbing talent in the way Sky are, they’re putting the hurt on in the places they can, on the rolling run-in.”
An email from Andrew Cleland: “I’m sure I’m not the first to suggest this, but a cynic might wonder who has the most to profit from Sagan’s DQ and then consider the nationality of that person and his team,” he says.
You’re certainly not the first to peddle this conspiracy theory in the past 20 hours, Andrew, but I don’t buy it for a second. If Sagan was kicked off the Tour to benefit a Frenchman riding for a French team, why would his disqualification occur on a day when the palaver surrounding it completely overshadowed a rare stage win by ... a Frenchman riding for a French team. Also, it’s the Swiss-based UCI who turfed Sagan out of the race, not the race organisers themselves. They are reported to be furious that their box office star has been disqualified.
Interesting fact. Today the Tour passes through Luxeuil Les-Bains, where I attended a wedding eight years ago next week. It was quite the do in the small provincial town, where the local hostelries and saloons were sadly ill-prepared for an invasion of thirsty Irish folk, who drank one particular bar dry in about two hours, prompting an urgent call for emergency supplies.
Throw in an absence of choral music during the church ceremony due to the presence of mice in the organ who the local padre had no wish to disturb and a best man accidentally left hanging by his suit jacket from some spikes on the back of an ill-advised attempt to scale a high gate in a bid to locate the wedding rings and it’s fair to say that a good weekend was had by all. There’s 94km to go and the gap is 2min 30sec.
Updated
Dan Martin has a medical consultation: The Katusha time trial specialist is currently enjoying a tow from a Skoda hatchback, where a doctor in the back seat is preparing to minister to some wound that doesn’t seem immediately obvious. There’s just under 100km to go and the gap is down to 2min 17sec.
An email from Dan Jenkins: “This BMC power play seems a bit odd,” he writes. “We so often hear riders saying that the Tour is all about saving energy so is it really worth spending a day on the front just to make a statement? If they really are stronger than Sky surely that will quickly become apparent anyway in the coming stages anyway. I wonder if they’ll regret making the effort if Porte ends up in yellow and suddenly they have to control the race day in day out.”
A fair point, well made. It makes no sense to me either. Can anyone out there with superior cycling smarts to Dan or I offer an explanation for this apparent tomfoolery?
103km: The peloton is strung out like your ma’s washing as the BMC boys drag them along the road with the gap to the escape party is reduced to 2min 31sec.
109km to go: It’s quite an illustrious breakaway containing some big names and BMC are leading a strung out peloton to whittle away their lead. Behind BMC, Sky’s riders are lined up and keeping their powder dry while their rivals in red and black put in the hard yards.
119km to go: Your breakaway: Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data), Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors), Jan Bakelants (AG2R La Mondiale), Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fortuneo), Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie), Mickael Delage (FDJ), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac).
Also, many thanks for your emails on the Sagan v Cavendish palaver, but please try to keep them short and don’t send long dissertations analysing the crash. We’ve kind of moved on from that and everyone has their own interpretation, but it’s the decision to disqualify Sagan without any kind of hearing (fair or otherwise) that seems to be the main talking point at this stage.
His insistence that he didn’t do anything wrong isn’t doing him too many favours, in my opinion. Having said that, he certainly wasn’t the only sprinter guilty of veering off line and I Messrs Demare and Kristoff can consider themselves very lucky not to have received any kind of punishment.
An email from Dan Dracea: “It is, indeed, mind-blowing that in 2017 a sporting incident is judged without hearing input from those involved in it,” he says. “You summed this up correctly and Andre Greipel also had a point with his change of opinion - judging images is mandatory, but so should hearing riders’ opinions. I often write about Formula 1 and this happens all the time there. The two drivers and any other relevant people are brought together with the jury to analyze the situation in the best possible way.”
BMC throwing down a marker? Their sporting director Yvon Ledanois has told French television that his team are towing the peloton because “Sky isn’t the only strong team at the Tour de France; BMC is as strong as Sky if not even stronger”. It’s all well and good to say that, Yvon, but are your skinsuits as dimpled and your wheels as round?
Some mid-stage reading for Sir Dave Brailsford
“At some level, you have to admire Dave’s ability to act like the deeply troubling revelations of the past nine months never happened,” writes Marina Hyde of bike-racing’s answer to the bloke in The Big Lebowski who peed on The Dude’s rug.
131km to go: Led by the riders of Richie Porte’s BMC team, the peloton reels in Tsgabu Grmay. The gap to the eight-man escape party is 3min 28sec. Of the cyclists in the leading bunch, Boasson-Hagan (fourth at 16 seconds) and Gilbert (sixth at 30 seconds) are the highest placed on General Classification.
Marcel Kittel speaks: In an interview recorded before the beginning of the stage, the German said that the decision to kick Sagan off the Tour was tough, but that the decision of the commissaires has to be respected. He adds that it will serve as a wake-up call for the other riders, which is something I haven’t heard anyone else mention.
139km to go: Ethiopian rider Tsgabu Grmay (Bahrain-Merida) has got himself caught in no-man’s land as he tries to bridge the gap between the peloton and the breakaway group.
Two birthday boys in the peloton today: Alexander Kristoff, who was caught up in the thick of the action at the finish of yesterday’s action, turns 30 today. Philippe Gilbert is celebrating his 35th birthday by joining the breakaway.
An email from Robin Hazelhurst: “Maybe part of the reason Cav hit Sagan’s elbow was because he was going through a gap he couldn’t fit through,” he says. “At his peak he could get through gaps like that, but after illness he is not at his peak and so his racing instincts wrote a cheque his legs couldn’t cash. Sagan’s elbow shouldn’t have been there, but nor should Cav. It was a 50/50 racing incident which is unfortunate, but these things happen in sprints.”
Our breakaway: Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data), Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors), Jan Bakelants (AG2R La Mondiale), Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fortuneo), Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie), Delage (FDJ), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac) have opened a gap of 2min 37sec on the peloton and there’s 150 kilometres to go.
An email from Luke Harrison: Well, an abridged version of a very long email from Luke Harrison: “Sagan did cause the crash but down to inattention rather than intent,” he says. “The elbow flick was a result of the contact that caused Cav to go down rather than the other way round. Chris Boardman had a point about Demare cutting off Bouhanni as well; this sort of stuff is going on all the time in sprints as riders try to get on the best wheel.”
They're off and racing in stage five ...
The riders have left Vittel, race director Christian Prudhomme has semaphored the start of racing and we already have an attempted breakaway of six or seven riders led by Direct Energie’s Thomas Voeckler, who is riding in his final Tour de France at the grand old age of 38.
Email from Dave Evans: “It is odd that the decision to DQ was not accompanied by consultation with other riders,” he says. “Surely Cavendish who, let’s be honest, knows a thing or two about how such things happen, would have supported a less severe penalty?”
I suspect you might be right, Dave. I’ve just seen an interview Cavendish gave this morning and for a man who isn’t backwards in going forwards when something is bothering him, he seemed very calm and far from angry, but obviously frsutrated that his Tour is over. He said he hasn’t spoken to Peter Sagan yet, but would still like to hear his thoughts on that elbow. On EuroSport, Greg Lemond has just insisted that Peter Sagan didn’t do anything technically illegal, while pointing out that if he deserved sanction, so di a few other cyclists involved in the sprint. WHich leads us nicely into this ...
Email from Johnny Long: “Looking at the overhead replay of yesterday’s crash, Greipel’s attempt to jump on Kristoff’s wheel and Démare cutting in front of Bouhanni seem just as dangerous as Sagan’s movements that brought down Cav (questionable elbow placement notwithstanding as we will never know the truth over intention),” he says. “Seems slightly ridiculous that the fact that Bouhanni managed to stay up both times mean that both Greipel and Démare remain in the race? If decisions are made dependent on outcomes rather than actions will there really be any meaningful change to the safety of riders and ‘the madness’ that grips sprinters?”
Interestingly, or not - in a viewer survey conducted by Eurosport this morning, 63% of viewers say that Peter Sagan should not have been kicked off the Tour.
Orica Scott's Backstage Pass
The Australian team is one of the more fan-friendly operations on the race and their daily video Tour de France diary is always worth a look. The Partridge-esque part of this episode where an obsessive fan presents Esteban Chavez with a homemade poster with her photo superimposed over one of his mother is worth the price of admission alone.
Updated
Sagan reluctantly accepts DQ:I can only accept...decision of the jury, but I disagree. I don't think I've done anything wrong in the sprint.
— Orla Chennaoui (@SkyOrla) July 5, 2017
Feel free to send us your views
You’ve had my take on yesterday’s events and Will Fotheringham’s added his two cents worth to a topic on which everyone seems to have an opinion, so feel welcome to mail or tweet your thoughts to the addresses above and it’ll help pass the time before the riders head off from Vittel at 12.20pm (BST) and launch their first assault on the pointy stuff.
Updated
Peter Sagan remains disqualified
Having made their decision to disqualify Peter Sagan in a fair amount of haste without actually consulting any of the riders involved in yesterday’s sprint finish, the UCI judges who booted him off the Tour have stood by their decision and the Slovakian world champion is currently on his way home after leaving his team hotel this morning.
As is invariably the case in such matters, opinion is divided on what actually happened, whose fault it was and what should have been done about it, but there seems to be a fair amount of sympathy out there for Sagan from all but the most blinkered Mark Cavendish fan-boys.
While Andre Greipel, who was furious with his colleague in the wake of yesterday’s stage finale has performed an admirable public volte face, the only people whose opinion matters have stuck by a decision I honestly thought would be reversed this morning after everyone had had a night to sleep on it. Sagan may well have deserved some sort of sanction, but surely not the ultimate one.
Ralph Denk, Sagan’s team boss at Bora, is understood to be furious that none of the riders involved were consulted before the decision to disqualify him from the race was taken and with some justification. It doesn’t seem ridiculous to suggest that, in a dangerous high-speed sport where competitors are forced to make big decisions are made in nano-seconds, some sort of stewards’ enquiry system should be adopted.
For example, if yesterday’s stage had been a horse race, the riders involved in the finish would have been hauled before a panel to watch replays of the finish with the judges and give their version of events before any judgements were passed. It’s my contention that if cycling had a similar system, Sagan would still be in the race.
Sometimes I should watch images before I say something. Apologies to @petosagan as I think that decision of the judge is too hard.
— Andre Greipel (@AndreGreipel) July 4, 2017
Stage 5: Vittel to La Planche des Belles Filles (160.5km)
After yesterday’s tedium featuring a 190km solo breakaway, two big crashes, the withdrawal through injury of the peloton’s best sprinter and the controversial disqualification of popular World Champion Peter Sagan, today promises to be comparatively thrilling as the Tour hits the bumpy stuff for the first time. The 193 remaining riders are due to set off from Vittel at 12.20pm (BST), on a stage that features the Cat 3 Cote d’Esmoulieres and finishes with a tough 5.9km climb to La Planche Des Belles Filles that ends with a vicious kick in the final 300m. Will Fotheringham is our man in France whose hopes for a quiet day yesterday were ruined and here’s his take on today’s route.
The first set-piece summit finish on the short, brutal climb to a small ski station in the middle of nowhere, where Chris Froome won in 2012. It is a simple equation: if Sky’s leader is on form he will make an early mark here. If he loses even a few seconds, the pressure will be on.
Updated
