Tour de France Stage Report: Mark Cavendish made history in today’s stage 5 of the 2024 Tour de France. His name will be in the record books for a long time with thirty-five Tour de France stage wins, one more than the Great Eddy Merckx. He beat Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility) into second and third places. The overall is unchanged.
*** Full ‘Tour Stage Report’ very soon. ***
The final kilometre
Mark Cavendish made history. The Briton won the fifth stage of the Tour de France and becomes the sole record holder for the number of stage victories in the Tour de France. He previously shared the record with Eddy Merckx, on 34 victories in the Tour. Cavendish was too fast for Jasper Philipsen, and everyone else, in Saint-Vulbas.
No.35 for Mark Cavendish
Christian Prudhomme, Tour de France general director: “The race’s temporary exit from the Alps will be made via Chambéry. Soon after, the peloton will be in La Bridoire, where the finish of the Classique des Alpes Juniors is regularly held. That’s a race for climbers, but they won’t get a look-in here as they head for Saint-Vulbas. After the Côte de l’Huis, tackled with 34km remaining, the wide roads beyond will be ideal for keeping a close eye on the breakaway riders. The winner’s bouquet looks destined to go to a sprinter.”
Stage 5 profile
The Col du Galibier will still be hurting the rider’s legs on stage 5, but any sprinters who have survived the giant climb will be hoping for a bunch finish. From Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, a 177 kilometre stage takes the peloton to Saint-Vulbas near Lyon. There are two small climbs that shouldn’t bother the fast finishers. The first 50 kilometres are flat or downhill. The first of two climbs is the Côte de Couz (12.9km at 2.7%), the riders then cross the Rhône and pass through Le Pont-de-Beauvoison and Aoste. This takes them from the Savoie department via Isère to Ain. Forty kilometres from the finish is the Côte de Lhuis (4.4km at 4.2%), the sprint trains can get on their rails.
2nd overall and best young rider – Remco Evenepoel
There should be a chance for Mark Cavendish today
The peloton showed little interest in attacking in the first kilometres, no one tried to get away. Then Oier Lazkano and Juan Ayuso, 4th overall, thought they would ‘give it a go’. It was just a bit of fun from the two Spaniards, who were quickly caught. Tim Declercq and Mathieu van der Poel also put in a couple of little attacks, but there was nothing in their moves.
Stage win No.2 for Bini Girmay?
Mads Pedersen looked good in the last sprint, but went too early
After 25 kilometres, the stage got serious. A group of four escaped, including Swiss power-houses, Stefan Küng and Stefan Bissegger. Alpecin-Deceuninck saw the danger and closed it down. Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ) was the next to try, the sprinter’s teams were not bothered. He took almost 1 minute, but then Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) crossed to him for a two man leading group.
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Young Arnaud De Lie has the speed and power for his first Tour stage win
Russo and Vercher took a lead of almost 5 minutes, but they were not allowed any more from the peloton, where Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek were in control. The sprinter’s teams of Jasper Philipsen and Mads Pedersen quickly reduced the difference to 3:30 and continued to slowly take more time back. Russo and Vercher were the first to cross the Côte du Cheval Blanc (1.5km at 4.6%), where Russo took the 1 point, and also took the intermediate sprint in Aoste.
Tadej Pogačar back in yellow – All the way to Nice?
Jonas Vingegaard nearly held on to Pogačar on the Galibier
The peloton sprint was won by Mads Pedersen, who narrowly beat Sam Bennett for third place. Biniam Girmay and Jasper Philipsen finished fifth and sixth. There was a crash in the peloton, involving Tadej Pogačar. The yellow jersey was in the middle of the road and only just missed a traffic island. He had to brake, skidded and was able to avoid the sign. Behind him, others were not so lucky. Pello Bilbao, Jonas Rickaert and Matej Mohorič all came down.
The leaders at the start
Can Jonas Abrahamsen hold the points and the KOM jersey?
All the crashed riders could continue. When they rejoined the peloton, it had started to rain. The pace also increased, because the Côte de Lhuis (3km at 4.9%) was coming up. On the climb Russo, who was the ‘Most Aggressive rider’ today, and Vercher were caught. Jonas Abrahamsen, the KOM leader, took the opportunity to take the 1 mountain point. All the sprinters survived the last climb without any problems.
The failed break of the day – Clement Russo (Groupama-FDJ) and Matteo Vercher Matteo (TotalEnergies)
The peloton didn’t want to let the break get too far ahead
Although the sky had cleared, the roads were still wet, this caused a few crashes. First Alexander Kristoff came down, then a little later Christophe Laporte skidded. Kristoff looked to have hurt himself, but the Norwegian was able to come back to the peloton with help from a teammate. He wanted to fight in the bunch sprint.
The yellow jersey seemed happy with how the stage was going
Welcome back to France
In the run-up to the bunch sprint, Lotto Dstny took the lead, but with under 2 kilometres to go, Alpecin-Deceuninck’s men came forward. dsm-firmenich-PostNL and Arkéa-B&B Hotels also pushed to the front. Mark Cavendish was a little further back, but was able to get through the middle. The Manx Missile saw a gap and then started his sprint. The 39-year-old rider of Astana Qazaqstan had a lot of acceleration in his legs and opened up a gap on Jasper Philipsen.
This London bus is very lost
No mountains today, only two small climbs
The Belgian of Alpecin-Deceuninck was unable to get near Cavendish. The British rider took his 35th stage victory in the Tour de France, one more than Eddy Merckx, who he shared the stage victory record. Philipsen was second behind Cavendish. Third place went to Alexander Kristoff, just ahead of Arnaud De Lie. Fabio Jakobsen finished fifth. Mads Pedersen wasn’t at the front as the Lidl-Trek rider crashed in the sprint.
The break was caught in good time before the finish
The win Mark Cavendish has been working for
Congratulations all round
Stage winner, Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan): “Astana put a big gamble on this year to make sure we’re good here at the Tour de France. My boss has done a big gamble for us to come here and win at least one stage. That shows he’s someone who knows what the Tour de France is. You have to go all in. We’ve done it. We worked on exactly what we wanted to do. How we built the team, what we’ve done with the equipment. Every little detail has been put towards specifically today. You see what it means! It doesn’t mean we are going to be top of the UCI rankings or anything but the Tour de France is bigger than cycling isn’t it. Normally it takes me a few days to get into it. I know how it works, my trainer and people around me know how it is. If everybody knew how it was everyone would be a bike rider and my job would be a lot harder. I’ve done 15 Tour de Frances now, I don’t like to have bad days and I don’t like to suffer but I know it’s just in the head and if you push you get through it. You work and you can have an opportunity, things still have to go your way. We didn’t nail it as a team like we wanted to do, but the boys improvised and got me there in the best position and I shot onto whatever train was going and was able to win. Especially when you are not physically as good as everybody else, it’s definitely beneficial to use your head a bit.”
The whole Cavendish family on the podium
Overall leader, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “We were in the bunch and then suddenly something came up in the middle from nowhere, the guys in front of me braked and we touched wheels a little bit, touched shoulders, but luckily I escaped the concrete thing. I reacted on instinct and was very lucky to avoid the crash. It’s a natural part of flat stages. The bunch is always together, quiet, always calm, and that’s when danger can come before you know it, when you’re relaxed and you never know what will happen. It was a nice feeling to ride with the Yellow Jersey again, I enjoyed it. It was a good start to the day, as I could have a talk around in the bunch. Anyway, the best part is I could roll into the finish safe and sound on a tricky stage. It was less stressful than Torino, though, as things at the front always remained relatively calm. It’s incredible that Mark [Cavendish] got his 35th stage victory. I saw him after the finish line and he told me not to break his record, but I think it will actually stand for a long time.”
Another day in yellow for Pogačar
# Catch up with all the Tour de France and other news in EUROTRASH Thursday. #
Tour de France Stage 5 Result:
1. Mark Cavendish (GB) Astana Qazaqstan in 4:08:46
2. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck
3. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
4. Arnaud De Lie (Bel) Lotto Dstny
5. Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) dsm-firmenich-PostNL
6. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Israel-Premier Tech
7. Arnaud Démare (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels
8. Gerben Thijssen (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty
9. Biniam Girmay Hailu (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty
10. Marijn van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost.
Tour de France Overall After Stage 5:
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 23:15:24
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step at 0:45
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma | Lease a Bike at 0:50
4. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Team Emirates at 1:10
5. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 1:14
6. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa) INEOS Grenadiers at 1:16
7. Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step at 1:32
8. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates
9. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 3:20
10. Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) INEOS Grenadiers at 3:21.
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