It was the predicted sprint finish in Wednesday’s stage 5 at the 2015 Tour de France with Team Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff in the hunt for a win. Going near the 300 m mark, Kristoff powered up the right-hand side of the course with a strong sprint, but just missed the podium with a fourth place finish in Amiens Métropole after 190 km on a windy day that saw many crashes take down riders.

"I lost my entire lead-out in a crash with 25 km to go so I was alone at the finish and that’s always hard. I actually put myself in too good of a position too early in the front so I tried to just stay steady there and not sprint but it was a little bit uphill and I was just too long in the wind for a better result.  My legs feel good but the wind was terrible out there today and it was very slippery from the rain. I lost Luca, Marco and Jacopo just before the final. I was near the crash too but I didn’t brake so I managed to stay away. I will try of course again tomorrow but I think today would have been a better opportunity for me," said Alexander Kristoff.

Wearing the green sprinter’s jersey, Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) took the win with a late kick, followed by Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) for second and Mark Cavendish (Etixx – Quick Step) in third with Kristoff almost even with him.

The general classification remained the same with Tony Martin of Etixx – Quick Step still in the lead by twelve seconds to Chris Froome (Team Sky) and 25-seconds to Tejay van Garderen of BMC.  Team Katusha’s leader Joaquim Rodriguez still wears the polka dot jersey as the best climber and currently holds 18th place for the overall.

The departure from Arras saw Pierre-Luc Périchon (Bretagne-Séché) in a solo break, but with rain and wind throughout the day, it was only a matter of time before the Frenchman was brought back with 95 km still to go. With rain and wind came the inevitable split in the peloton with crashes playing a major part in disrupting the final. Altogether, five Katusha riders went down on the day, but all survived to finish the stage.

"Caruso and Machado crashed two times – first Caruso went down early in the race and then before the feed zone near kilometer 60-70, Machado crashed. The last crash at 25 km to go was Machado, Haller, Paolini and Guarnieri – all four of them. But everyone arrived at the finish and are OK," said team director José Azevedo.

Thursday brings stage 6. At 192 km, the day begins in Abbeville and ends in Le Havre. There could be crosswinds as the race gets to the coast, but in general it should be another day for the sprinters.