Thanks for reading everyone, tune in tomorrow for stage six. Come on Cav! Bye!
Stage five report
And so, on we go to stage six: a relatively straightforward 160km jaunt with just one category four climb, from Tours to Châteauroux, then scene of Cavendish’s first ever Tour win in 2008. The average age of a Tour stage winner is 26. The Manx Missile is 10 years older than that. Could he possibly get his 32nd stage win?!
New general classification standings
Le nouveau classement général après cette 5ème étape ! Et il y a déjà des écarts importants. #TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/Ufkw1Pdoe1
— Le Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) June 30, 2021
Time trial top 10
1) Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:32:00
2) Stefan Kung (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:32:19
3) Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma 0:32:27
4) Wout van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma 0:32:30
5) Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix 0:32:31
6) Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:32:37
7) Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma 0:32:44
8) Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:32:55
9) Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers 0:32:55
10) Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech 0:33:00
Geraint Thomas speaks!
I went out a bit conservative. I am probably not 100% but I don’t want to bang on about that too much. Just not enough power. I woke up this morning and felt terrible to be honest. I loosened up and felt a bit better.
Remember he dislocated his shoulder just two days ago. He actually climbed in the GC standings today, but lost time on the leader, 1min54secs down.
Van der Poel has probably put the time trial of his life to stay in yellow. He ended up finishing just a second behind Van Aert, a time trial specialist.
💛 @mathieuvdpoel battles right to the very end and retains his Yellow Jersey!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) June 30, 2021
💛 En signant le 5ème temps à 21" de @TamauPogi, @mathieuvdpoel sauve son Maillot Jaune !#TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/1OCq5YTHHa
With an average speed of 51.0km/h, @TamauPogi is the first rider to win two ITTs in a row on the roads of @LeTour since Bradley Wiggins in 2012 ⏱️#TDF2021 #TDFdata pic.twitter.com/RXjKao0Jr8
— letourdata (@letourdata) June 30, 2021
Time trial winner Pogacar speaks!
It was just a really good day today. I didn’t do any mistakes. It was perfect weather for me but sadly some guys went out on wet roads. I had perfect conditions and perfect temperature. I checked the course. In the last few time trials I did mistakes after starting super fast. I paced myself pretty good and found a perfect rhythm to the end. The goal was not to lose the time, but I gained time so I’m super happy. I’m just excited for the whole Tour. I would love to have the yellow jersey but Mathieu looks super nice, so it’s fine.”
Both Pogacar and Van der Poel embrace in the media section. It’s a nice moment.
Stage winner 🤝 yellow jersey
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) June 30, 2021
Huge smiles
A superb moment as #TDF2021 leader Mathieu van der Poel congratulates stage winner Tadej Pogacar after a thrilling time trial. pic.twitter.com/0ZZvaWAFCn
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Van der Poel holds onto the yellow jersey! Pogacar wins the time trial!
Pogacar was supreme here. But what an exciting finish for the maillot jaune.
Goodness, imagine if this was raining now. The scenes!
Van der Poel comes into the final corners. He’s giving absolutely everything. Can he hang onto the yellow jersey? It’s going to be close!
Alaphilippe comes to the line, 33’11”. He’s over a minute down on Pogacar. That’s quite disappointing for the Frenchman.
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So Pogacar looks like he’s wrapped up the stage win, but who will claim yellow?! Van der Poel has around two kilometres to go and about eight seconds in the bank to hold onto the maillot jaune, but that advantage is falling all the time.
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Van Aert finishes with 32’30”, 30 seconds shy of Pogacar, who leapfrogs Van Aert in the GC overall standings.
Kelderman takes a huge hit in the GC standings. Nearly two minutes shy of Pogacar as he rolls over the line. Oooooof.
Van Aert, the favourite for the stage today, has about one kilometre to go. But it’s not really been his day and it look like he’ll have to answer to Pogacar’s pace.
Van der Poel must finish with a time of 32’39” to stay in yellow. He’s got 7km to go.
Pogacar is our new leader!
Pogacar crosses the line in 32 minutes flat! He’s our new leader! That’s 18 and a half seconds quicker than our former leader Stefan Küng.
Van der Poel is also putting on a bit of a show. The man in the yellow jersey won’t win the stage but looks like he is 30 seconds up on Alaphilippe, who was second in the GC coming into this stage. If it carries on like this, Van der Poel will stay in yellow.
This is an incredible ride from Pogacar. Nobody expected him to be this strong.
This is where we are then. Van Aert has just gone through the second checkpoint and he’s 21 seconds down on Pogacar! Twenty-one!
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Pogacar is now 17 seconds clear of Küng at the second checkpoint, and looks like he’ll still have a lead over Van der Poel and Van Aert. His lead is building, although apparently there are issues with the Slovenian’s radio. He can’t contact his car for any info on upcoming corners, or get the split times to know where he is in the race.
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Pogacar goes through the first check 11 seconds quicker than Küng did. The Slovenian is also quicker than Van Aert! The Belgian rolls through the first checkpoint three seconds slower than Pogacar. Here comes Alaphilippe, though.
Geraint Thomas rolls home, just under a minute short of Küng’s time at 33’18”. I suspect the 2018 champion will be happy with that, considering his injuries.
The man in the yellow jersey, Mathieu van der Poel, now leaves the plinth. Just eight seconds separates him and Alaphilippe. Is this the final day for Van der Poel in yellow?
Now Julian Alaphilippe is off the ramp. He’s won a TT before at the Tour in 2019, and the home crowd are whipped into a frenzy as the Frenchman roars up the hill at the start.
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Richard Carapaz is next off. The Giro winner has had such a such a strong start to the Tour, but today is all about restricting losses and staying in the GC contention.
Today’s favourite, Wout van Aert, is off the ramp. He’s fourth in the GC race, and in the hunt for the first yellow jersey of his career. Time trials are really where he comes alive, though. Would be a huge stage win for him today if he can do what is expected of him.
Roglic nears on the finish line. He’s not going to win the stage, but he’s back, baby. The injuries he sustained do not appear to be race-threatening. He’s 25 seconds back from Küng and tucks in at fourth place, as things stand.
Jonas Vingegaard finishes, around eight seconds after Küng. He’s currently in second place.
Rigoberto Urán, meanwhile is currently in five place as he goes past the first check. He’s nine seconds down on Küng at that point.
Nairo Quintana went into the Tour talking down his chances in the GC but he lies in sixth place overall, only 40 seconds down on the race leader. He won’t be expected to win the time trial today, but how far will he go to keep himself in contention before we get to the mountains.
@michaelbutler18 the master bike handler, to me will always be Fabian Cancellara https://t.co/ui2sRBjk9Y
— Patrick Smith (@patrickxsmith) June 30, 2021
Our current leader, Stefan Küng, speaks:
Felt really good. Set up stopped working. The only thing is that the radio stopped working just before the second intermediate so it was tough to do at the end of the race.
That’s some going from the Swiss, and might explain why he looked so spent at the end.
Roglic is the next to the first checkpoint, he’s six seconds down on Asgreen. That’s not an awful thing, he might not win the time trial with that time, but show that his injuries are not looking like they are going to hinder him overall. Roglic is very much still a GC contender.
Geraint Thomas is the next down the ramp, and it’s much the same story for him as Roglic.
More good news for the Danes: Jonas Vinegaard (Jumbo Visma) is fastest at the first check after 8.8 km in 10’48” and his compatriot Kasper Asgreen then just pips him.
Ritchie Porte rolls over the line, and can’t quite pip Cattaneo into second place. That’s third place for the Australian. 32’55” half a second behind the Italian.
Roglic is off the ramp! The skinsuit is covering all of the 2020 runner-up’s injuries sustained earlier in the race. He’s about a minute and a half down on the overall leaders, so it will be very interesting to see his tactics in this time trial.
My word. Stefan Küng of Groupama-FDJ finishes at 32’19” to become our new leader. He beat Cattaneo by 36 seconds, although you could see that he was really struggling in those last two kilometres after pushing himself to the limit earlier in the race.
Küng is reportedly doing 60km/hr into a headwind. Eeeeeeesh. His split at the second checkpoint was more than 26 seconds faster than Cattaneo. It’s going to be some time at the finish, if he stays on two wheels.
Certainly bike handling is much more important today, with the weather. It’s not all about wattage and aerodynamics.
Probably too soon @michaelbutler18, but Lance Armstrong was a tremendous watch in an ITT. His bike handling, first shown in securing the Rainbow Jersey in torrential Oslo rain, was second to none, floating round corners on the tightest of lines.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) June 30, 2021
A genius, flawed, as so many are
Towards the of the course, which I would say is almost dry now, Mattia Cattaneo of Deceuninck-Quick-Step, is closing in on Bjerg’s time. The Italian is grimacing but gets over the line in 32’55”, six seconds clear of Bjerg! His average speed is now greater than 50km/hr, so that’s the standard for the Gc riders. We have a new leader, but Kung is on his way.
🇩🇰@mikkelbbjerg was 0.8km/h faster than 🇮🇹@cattamat in the 2nd sector but the Italian finished much stronger to take the best provisional time on the line ⏱️#TDF2021 #TDFdata pic.twitter.com/kSm3gLots2
— letourdata (@letourdata) June 30, 2021
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Kung looks like he’s on a mission: 10’49” at the first checkpoint at 8.8km. He’ll be our new leader if he carries on like that.
USA’s Neilson Powless was fastest at the first check but lost 37 seconds through the second check and is now well behind Bjerg’s time.
Looks like the course is drying out a little, which is good news for the GC contenders, and backs up what Küng was saying.
Stefan Küng, a big contender here and the European champion, is just come off the ramp. He’s feeling confident and thinks the winning time will be down at 31’30”-ish. Interesting.
BREAKING NEWS
The spectator who caused a mass crash on the opening day of the Tour de France has been arrested and placed in custody, according to RTL.
Race organisers threatened legal action in the aftermath of Saturday’s incident and French police soon opened an enquiry, launching a search for the culprit.
After appealing for witnesses, the person has been identified, found, and is now in police custody in Landerneau, according to RTL.
The person is accused of involuntarily causing injury and faces a fine of €1,500.
Wow! What a ride from Magnus Cort Nielsen. He goes second with 33’07”, just six seconds off Bjerg’s time. That’s two Danes at the top of the leaderboard! “The Bacon Boys,” according to the Eurosport TV commentary.
Magnus Cort Nielsen is a stage winner on the Tour from 2018, remember.
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Peter Sagan and Dan Martin are now out of the course. It’s been a tough year for Sagan, who struggled with Covid early in the season.
Updated
A bedraggled McNulty drags his way over the line, his knees still dripping blood. His time is 38’55”, he’s 87th.
Bissegger finishes 21 seconds behind Bjerg but that’s a good ride, considering the weather and the near-crash. Bissegger is currently tucked in in second place. Omar Fraile (Astana) finishes with 33’46”, the fourth fastest for now.
Simon Yates is the latest to lead off. Kwiatkowski is also out on the course. I’ll bring you the Polish checked times soon.
A Eurosport reporter on a motorbike says the road is in the worst possible condition, between wet and dry, so riders are completely guessing as to where their braking point is. Confirmation that McNulty did crash. He’s back out on the changed bike, with blood trickling out of his knees. Ouch.
Bissegger has lost a further 10 seconds as he rolls through the second check. That’s 19 seconds off Bjerg now. Looks like his race is run.
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Victor Campenaerts rolls over the line, taking it real easy, a few minutes out. He even gives the crowd a couple of waves and smiles to the camera. What a charmer.
Bissegger is nine seconds off Bjerg’s time at the first check. I don’t actually think he will have lost too much time with that near-miss a moment ago but I wonder it will have done to his concentration. He’s not out of this yet though.
Brandon McNulty, of UAE Team Emirates, looks like he’s come off or had a bike change, although I don’t think the cameras caught any sort of crash. Things are getting really dicey out there, though. Bjerg’s time is looking awfully good now. Let’s see.
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Six km in and Bissegger nearly goes over on a sharp right-hand turn! A motorbike was probably in his way, and perhaps distracted the 23-year-old, who missed his braking point, and started slipping all over the shop. How he stayed on his bike, I have no idea! The Swiss looked as though he was riding on ice, veering left and right but somehow manages to style it out, all while avoiding the barriers.
What a recovery from 🇨🇭 @aka_muni! A little scare to start off his TT.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) June 30, 2021
Plus de peur que de mal pour Stefan Bissegger 🇨🇭#TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/P4ezaQPjoS
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Stefan Bissegger, the exciting young Swiss rider from EF Education-Nippo, is about to lead out. A reminder that this first year on the world tour and he’s a real threat, winning the time trial at Paris-Nice. He’s wearing an absolutely outrageous pink helmet that looks like a spaceship.
Interesting to see if the riders drop their tyre pressure or not. You would expect, to give them a bit more grip around the slippery corners. Obviously they will lose time on the roll resistance, but it’s a balance.
Current leader Bjerg speaks!
It was super hard. I decided to give everything after my crash on stage one. I nearly crashed on the last corner. It’s completely new asphalt and nearly went over when it started to rain. If it keeps raining then I might win the stage. I’m hoping for top 10!
That will put the jeebies up all the GC riders yet to come, particularly about the final part of the course, and with the rain to come. Bjerg had a dry road for 99% of his ride. Could he genuinely have a hope of taking this stage if the rain affects the GC riders?
🔥 @mikkelbbjerg goes fastest so far in the time trial at #TDF2021 !
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) June 30, 2021
He's in the hot seat.👍#UAETeamEmirates #RideTogether pic.twitter.com/b3vZEL7sGn
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World hour record holder Victor Campenaerts has just left the start line. He’s somebody that could possibly take the stage today, but seems to have a water bottle tucked into his skin suit, which is very unusual.
Our current leader, Mikkel Bjerg, absolutely emptied the tank. He’s in no position for a post-race interview. He’s just sat on the floor, heads bowed in his arms, trying to catch his breath.
How the rain might affect the riders: the rain doesn’t hinder riders too much aerodynamically, but those that don’t spend too much practice on their time-trial bikes are nervous going into those slippery corners and take their foot off the pedal, so to speak. For the favourite here, though, Wout van Aert, he practices so much on his time-trial bike that he will probably relish the idea of riding in the rain, compared at least to his GC rivals.
Thomas De Gendt, who famously never does a warm-up (and has never won a professional time trial) was up on Bjerg on the first check, but lost nearly 21 seconds by the second. Looks like he’s fading.
There is some drizzle in the air towards the finish, which is very technical with several sharp turns within the final few hundred metres.
Mark Cavendish limps home in the green jersey, over two minutes off the pace. It’s hardly surprising after yesterday’s action. I genuinely think it was one of the sporting events of the year. The guts, the bike handling, and where he has come from in this last year. Absolutely remarkable. I would encourage you to read the comments BTL in our report. Safe to say there were a few wet eyes yesterday.
WOWWWW! 😲
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) June 29, 2021
An absolutely 𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 win for Mark Cavendish at #TDF2021! pic.twitter.com/L3EK4gUZTW
Mikkel Bjerg the new leader at 33’01”. Oooooof. He went all in there at the finish. UAE Team Emirates sent him out early and it seems things have worked.
Here is a map of the course today, by the way. Short enough to suit Alaphilippe. It also suits specialists such as Belgian Victor Campenaerts and Swiss rider Stefan Küng.
Been a disappointing week for Lotto-Soudal, but some sort of encouragement there as Harrison Sweeny becomes our new leader, shaving a few seconds off Kuss’s time with 33’53”. Just to note though, Mikkel Bjerg was 35 seconds quicker than Sweeny at the second check – the Dane is flying.
Mike Teunissen of Jumbo-Visma sets the new fastest time by 11 seconds at 35’22” but Sepp Kuss flies through with a remarkable 33’57”! Wow! We currently have a Jumbo 1-2-3.
Tony Martin speaks after his time trial.
I was going fast but not all in. My body needs to rest after the big crash. For me, it was more of an easy day.
There’s talk of some rain later in the afternoon, which could affect proceedings. Just another variable for the riders to deal with, although all the GC riders are towards the back so will likely have similar conditions at least, even if they are poor/wet.
Froome finishes well outside Martin’s time on 36’20”, nearly 47 seconds outside the lead. Eeeesh. Think it’s fair to say that the former champion is very much using this race as a stepping stone in his recovery. Will be good to see him get involved in some breakaways as the race progresses, but not sure we should expect too much more from him.
Hello world. Tony Martin has now set the pace at 35’33”, he is arguably the first big name to finish, after being hit by the sign a couple of days back. Meanwhile Froom is 2km out and making his way up the final climb. He looks like he might challenge Martin for the lead.
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That will be all from me - Michael Butler is here to guide you through the rest of today’s time trial.
Amund Grøndahl Jansen (Team BikeExchange) is the first man to finish, in a time of 37’04”, with an average speed of 44km/h over the 27.2km course. He is almost immediately beaten by Clément Russo of Arkea-Samsic, in 36’10”.
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Bernie Eisel, the former Team Sky rider now working for Eurosport, is out on the course on the back of a motorbike, and tells us that he thinks Froome, the four-times champion, is riding well within himself.
Marco Haller (Bahrain Victorious) crosses the second intermediate check in Laval at 17.2km and clocks the fastest time, 22’35”, but is almost immediately dethroned by Martin, who registers 22’17”, in an average speed of 46.3km/h. Very respectable.
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All eyes will be on the GC contenders in a couple of hours - how will Primoz Roglic’s body shape up after his heavy crash on stage three? Can Richard Carapaz (Team Ineos) further his claim for outright leadership of that team? And will this undulating route suit the climbing skills of Tadej Pogacar, the champion, of UAE-Team Emirates?
Martin, nicknamed Der Panzerwagen, has perhaps unsurprisingly clocked the fastest time at the first check, 11’58”. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma) has just rolled down the start ramp. There are still 159 riders to start.
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Chris Froome (Israel Start Up Nation) and Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma) are both out on course. Both are traditionally TT specialists, but both are nursing injuries from earlier crashes.
Preamble
The latest edition of the world’s biggest bike race has crammed seemingly endless drama into its first four stages: a crash-marred opening day when world champion Julian Alaphilippe swapped rainbow stripes for the yellow jersey, Mathieu van der Poel’s memorable Mûr-de-Bretagne success on stage two, yet more crashes on stage three, before Mark Cavendish’s tearful winning return in Fougères yesterday.
After a stressful, incident-packed opening to the race for the riders, a 27.2km individual time trial may feel like a welcome change from the winding, narrow roads of Brittany. It’s still going to hurt, needless to say, but at least they’ll have the road more or less to themselves in an unusually long ‘Race of Truth’ by the usual standards of the Tour’s first week.
Today’s route includes five ascents considered significant enough to be included on the map, the highest being Louverné, cresting at 104m after 10.9km. Julian Alaphilippe, who currently sits eight seconds behind Mathieu van der Poel in the general classification, has his eyes on reclaiming that famous yellow jersey come this evening. The GC battle has already been shaken up significantly by all those crashes, and a host of names will be hoping to show their form and grab a few seconds on their rivals along the way.
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