André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) proved that he is currently the fastest rider in the Tour de France when he used his fantastic power to win stage 5 of the Tour de France, his second victory in the French race. Finding a late opening, he passed Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep) and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and held off a fast-finishing Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) who had to settle for second. Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) defended the overall lead.

 

Going into the Tour de France, most were speaking about Marcel Kittel’s absence and Mark Cavendish’s return and André Greipel didn’t get much attention. However, the German has a fantastic track record with stage wins in every single edition he has done and his team manager even claimed that he was better than ever.

 

After five days of the race, it is hard to disagree with that assessment after the Gorilla powered clear to win his second stage in the second sprint finish of the biggest race in the world. Despite having limited team support as his lead-out train has been struck by injury, he managed to come out on top when the fifth stage came down to the expected bunch sprint.

 

The stage had been a very strange one as the windy and rainy conditions had made the peloton nervous but apparently the wind was not strong enough to split the field. However, the nervousness meant that the break was already caught with more than 90km to go and from there it was a long fight for position that allowed the sprint teams to hide a little behind the GC teams and make ready for the sprint.

 

Things got a bit nervous with 16km to go when BMC briefly tried to split the peloton with Greg Van Avermaet and Manuel Quinziato but as they quickly entered a small town things calmed down. However, Michael Valgren, Lieuwe Westra, Michal Kwiatkowski and Nicolas Roche were lined out on the front to make sure that the GC riders were not surprised.

 

With 11km to go, Etixx-Quickstep briefly took control with Kwiatkowski before the big teams again lined out their teams. BMC won the battle and for a while Quinziato, Michael Scär and Daniel Oss set the pace before Tinkoff-Saxo took over with Daniele Bennati and Michael Valgren.

 

Sky was the next team in charge when Ian Stannard set the pace until they got to the final 10km. Here Etixx again hit the front with Matteo Trentin and they fought hard with Europcar who accelerated in the opposite site of the road.

 

Kwiatkowski won the battle for Etixx until MTN-Qhubeka played with the muscles and it was Tyler Farrar who took a massive turn before Etixx launched their lead-out. Tony Martin pace but was unable to match the Giant-Alpecin train as Ramon Sinkeldam, Roy Curvers, Koen de Kort and John Degenkolb moved into pole position just before the flamme rouge.

 

Marcel Sieberg did the lead-out for Greipel at the flamme rouge but he had lost his teammate who found himself far back. Instead, Etixx-QuickStep took over with Zdenek Stybar and Mark Renshaw but they ended up doing the lead-out for Alexander Kristoff as Cavendish was far back.

 

Kristoff did a long sprint and went head to head with Arnaud Demare (FDJ) while Cavendish suddenly found a gap and had to start from far out. He managed to pass the two leading riders and looked poised to win the stage until Greipel suddenly came flying. The German managed to pass everybody else and hold off a very fast-finishing Peter Sagan who had to settle for second. Cavendish completed the podium.

 

Tony Martin finished safely in the bunch and so defended his 12-second lead over Chris Froome (Sky) in the overall standings. He will try to defend his position in tomorrow’s dangerous stage along the Normandy coast. It is up or down for most of the day with three small category 4 climbs and includes an 800m climb that summit less than one kilometre from the finish before the riders get onto the slightly uphill finishing straight.

 

A flat stage

After yesterday’s drama on the cobbles, more action was expected in stage 5 which brought the riders over 189.5km from Arras to Amiens. The course was almost completely flat as there was not a single categorized climb on the menu. However, strong gusts of wind and rain were forecasted and so echelons and nervousness were expected to mar a day that should have been for the sprinters.

 

All riders who finished yesterday’s stage were present when they gathered in Arras for their flat ride through Picardy. As everybody expected a sprint finish and a nervous day, it was not surprise that the first break was the one that worked.

 

An early break

Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) and Pierre-Luc Perichon (Bretagne) attacked right from the gun and they already had an advantage of 1.10 after 2.5km of racing as the peloton was pleased to get the race off to a slow start. After 6km of racing, it had gone out to 2.35 but Edet realized that it was a waste of energy so he decided to wait for the peloton.

 

Perichon pressed on while drama unfolded in the peloton. A crash brought down four Cofidis riders and while three of them managed to get back on their bike, leader Nacer Bouhanni left the race in an ambulance.

 

Another crash

At the 14km mark, Perichon had an advantage of 4.10 as he continued to roll through the terrain that commemorated the soldiers who died during World War II. However, the peloton was getting nervous in the windy conditions and as they brought Edet back, they reduced the gap to 3.35 at the 22km mark.

 

Another crash involved Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and several Cannondale riders but they all managed to rejoin the peloton which had brought the gap down to 2.15 after 30km of racing. At the 39km mark,  it was only 1.30.

 

Coquard goes down

The gap went out to 2.30 again as no one was really chasing and instead all the big teams had their troops lined out on the front. BMC, Astana, Sky and Tinkoff-Saxo set the pace while Bauke Mollema (Trek), André Greipel and Nicolas Roche (Sky) fought back from an early crash.

 

Climbers Peter Kennaugh, Richie Porte, Ivan Basso, Rohan Dennis, Damiano Caruso were doing much of the early riding on the front to keep their captains safe and they had brought the gap down to 1.10 with 130km to go. Meanwhile, Bryan Coquard (Europcar) hurt himself in a crash and his team had to work hard to make him rejoin the peloton.

 

A crash splits the field

Ag2r also came to the fore to line up there troops next to Astana, Sky and Tinkoff-Saxo who still set the pace and kept the gap between 1.00 and 1.30. Meanwhile, another crash briefly split the field and again Coquard found himself on the ground alongside Rafal Majka, Pieter Weening, Tiago Machado and Tyler Farrar.

 

The crash had split the field into several groups and things were heating up as the peloton suddenly got more nervous. Michal Golas accelerated for Etuxx-QuickStep and with 105km to go, the gap was only 30 seconds.

 

Greipel wins the sprint of the bunch

Things calmed down a bit and this allowed Nairo Quintana (Movistar) to quickly rejoin the peloton after a puncture. That allowed the many riders who had been caught out behind the crash, to rejoin the peloton before Perichon won the intermediate sprint with 99km to go. Giant-Alpecin did the full lead-out for Degenkolb but Greipel was the fastest as he beat his compatriot, Cavendish and Saga.

 

Astana briefly tried to attack in the crosswinds and so brought Perichon back with 98km to go. However, things calmed down and Golas was back on the front for Etixx while the final group rejoined the paloton.

 

The peloton splits

Sky took control with Wout Poels as the tension grew and it was Sky, Etixx, Tinkoff and Cannondale who set the pace with 85km to go. That made the peloton split as Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE) was one of the first to get dropped. Meanwhile, Jack Bauer (Cannondale) abandoned.

 

Cannondale hit the front with Dylan van Baarle before BMC took over and now the peloton was splitting to pieces. Daniel Oss and Greg Van Avermae took some huge turns while riders like Haimar Zubeldia, Daniel Navarro and Pierre Rolland got dropped. The latter managed to rejoin the peloton but the former two found themselves in a big group where Trek started to chase.

 

Bretagne give up

Things calmed down again as Sky again hit the front next to BMC and Movistar also moved into position. Again the big teams had their squads lined out on the front but only to stay safe and avoid any surprises. That made it possible for Cavendish to easily rejoin the peloton after a puncture.

 

Sky, Tinkoff, Movistar, Astana and BMC rode on the front for most of the rest of the chase while Bretagne chased hard in the second group. However, they were 3 minutes behind with 50km to go and ultimately the French team would give up.

 

Things got dramatic with 25km to go when a big crash split the field as several riders slid out on the slippery roads. Michele Scarponi, Steven Kruijswijk, Edvald Boasson Hagen and Thibaut Pinot were among the many riders to hit the deck and it required a massive effort from the FDJ team to bring their leader back to the peloton. Meanwhile, the big team continued to set the pace and only 15km remained when Pinot rejoined the group and the finale started.