Sep Vanmarcke showed character in Wednesday’s fifth stage of the Tour de France. The Belgian classic specialist from Team LottoNL-Jumbo tried to wash away the sour taste of his result in the cobbled stage on Tuesday by getting involved in the bunch sprint in Amiens. Vanmarcke, whose chances on Tuesday were ruined by bad luck in the final kilometres, placed 15th.
 
André Greipel won the stage. The German Lotto-Soudal rider outsprinted Peter Sagan (Cannondale-Garmin) and Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep). Tony Martin is still in yellow.
 

Team LottoNL-Jumbo leader Robert Gesink managed to stay upright on the wet roads in the north of France. With help of Jos van Emden, Tom Leezer, Bram Tankink and Vanmarcke, the Dutchman was on the first few rows of the pack all day.
 
“For me, days like today could be done by bus,” Gesink said with a smile. “But actually, it went quite well. The roads were slippery, but fortunately, I wasn’t bothered because we have good tyres. As a team, we worked hard to be in a good position, but that was even harder than it perhaps looks on television. We had to fight for every inch all day long.”
 

“Robert was able to maintain himself at the front thanks to his team-mates and rolled through the stage well,” Sports Director Nico Verhoeven said. “We had expected a harder race. The pace was high, but there never really was a true intention to drop riders. Five trains were constantly leading the pack, helping the other riders to stay out of the wind.”
 

Steven Kruijswijk was less fortunate than Gesink. In the final hour, he was involved in a nasty crash caused by the wet roads.

“I thought I was in the safe zone at the back, but still we hit the tarmac with about 20 men,” Kruijswijk said. He suffered a bruised knee and abrasions.
 

Laurens ten Dam survived on Wednesday to live another day in the Tour.

“It was tough today, but I made it to the finish and tomorrow is another day. We’ll see how my recovery progresses.”
 

Wilco Kelderman was seriously hampered by the back injury he sustained in the third stage on Monday.

“I was struggling with my back. I really couldn’t push as I wanted to. I was wrestling on my bike and felt pain all the time. I don’t hope it’s too bad, but it doesn’t feel good.”
 

Thursday’s stage leads the pack from Abbevile to Le Havre, along the shore of Normandy. According to Verhoeven, echelons aren’t guaranteed.

“We’ll ride along the coast, but there aren’t too many open areas.”