Tour de France 2020: Wout van Aert rises to win the fifth stage, as it happened | Sport

Jeremy whittle reports of a strange day on the Tour that was both uneventful and eventful …

Adam Yates is in yellow: The scenario itself may have been uneventful, but the aftermath is proving the opposite. Julian Alaphilippe has been penalized 20 seconds for illegally dribbling within the last 20 kilometers, meaning that Adam Yates takes the yellow jersey and Primoz Roglic moves to second place.

Interesting news from France …

There are unconfirmed reports that Julian Alaphilippe has received some sort of time penalty, meaning that Mitchelton-Scott driver Adam Yates has taken over the yellow jersey. More as we understand it …

Wout van Aert speaks: “It was a heavy ending, ”he says. “It was perhaps the easiest stage I did in a cycling race because there was no escape. But then we had those winds at the end and the last mile was a little uphill. I knew it fit me well and I am grateful I had the opportunity to do so. Now I have my stage victory and from now on I will give everything to support my team ”.

An email: “The judges have not awarded an award for combativeness before,” writes Tom Paternoster-Howe. “They did it on stage in 1995, the day after Fabio Caseartelli’s death and the peloton rolled together along the route.”

Wout van Aert wins: His excellent season continues as he achieves a surprising victory on the stage by beating Cees Bol. Sam Bennett was third, while Caleb Ewan finished very low in the pecking order.

The Jumbo driver – Visma catches his rivals napping and wins the stage, surprising everyone. Cees Bol is second by a third of a wheel.

1 km to go: The Sunweb team is up front, hoping to deliver Cees Bol in the end. Caleb Ean is biding his time, while Sam Bennett has no teammates left.

2km to go: Caleb Ewan, Peter Sagan, Cees Bol and Sam Bennett are in good positions as they prepare to fight at the finish line. There is a steep climb in the distance.

3 km to go: The teams in the general classification have done their job and now it’s up to the sprinters …

4km to go: The overall teams have one kilometer to go before their leaders enter the three kilometer mark, at which point everyone in the group will get the same time.

5km to go: Jumbo Visma on the left and Ineos on the right, with a variety of sprinters choosing which train to hook up their respective wagons. Most go with the team in yellow.

6km to go: The platoon splits into two on both sides of the road, with Jumbo-Visma on the left and Ineos on the right. Peter Sagan and Caleb Ewan are in good positions as they look towards stage victory.

7km to go: Julian Alaphilippe moves through the group to take a hiding place behind the four Ineos drivers on the left side of the road.

9km to go: Trek Segafredo moves closer to the front of the group just behind Ineos as the pace picks up. The platoon is hanging single file at a blazing pace.

11km to go: “Can the judges decide not to award the combativity award?” asks Patrick Costello. Or has Cosenfory done enough to win the award? If the award is relative to the peloton, today it must be a low bar ”.

I guess Kasper Asgreen should probably get it for his quickly aborted attack after four kilometers. It will be interesting to see what the judges decide to do.

14 km to go: “I was hoping to see more of the fickle Ecuadorian in the early stages as a ‘puncheur’ type pilot similar to Roglic and Alaphillipe, ”writes Richie Hutson of his namesake Richie Carapaz. “Perhaps he is following the prevailing Ineos philosophy of getting into the race before unleashing some attacks on the tracks later with Bernal. Hopefully anyway and I’m not just suffering with bad old legs. “

17km to go: With the threat of crosswinds gone, the peloton remains intact as they wind their way through what promises to be an intriguing final sprint. Wearing the iconic polka dot jersey, Benoit Cosnefroy is allowed to separate from the group to aim for the second King of the Mountains point on offer today.

20km to go: Despite his injuries, Pavel Sivakov tries to lead his teammate to the tail of the pack.

23km to go: At the rear of the peloton, Ineos driver Richard Carapaz punctures. He is riding in the company of his teammate Pavel Sivakov, who is still suffering injuries from not one, but two crashes on Saturday’s first stage. The rest of Team Ineos is leading the pack, looking after Egan Bernal.

23km to go: Sepp Kuss is still struggling to rejoin the peloton as Ineos takes control at the head of the peloton and picks up the pace.

25 km to go: Team Ineos and Team Jumbo-Visma are leading the pack.

27km to go: The main contenders in the overall standings have all been escorted to the front of the group, but there are no signs of crosswinds as the peloton remains intact. Sepp Kuss is 30 seconds behind the pack as he continues to try to catch up after his crash.

32 km to go: “I think you are quite correct in your analysis,” writes Mark Seddon, in what must be the first time in correspondence from a reader or listener to this reporter. “Jumbo-Visma has given Ineos / Sky the ultimate compliment by using their playbook of having two genuine contenders (Roglic and Dumoulin), building the strongest team around them (Van Aert, Kuss, etc.) and then try to dominate the race.

“Bernal doesn’t look too bad and is looking to be strong in Week 3 when the longer climbs should suit him, assuming he hasn’t wasted too much time with Roglic in the meantime.”

35 km to go: The Movistar and Groupama-FDJ pilots are placed at the front of the peloton. Jumbo-Visma rider Sepp Kuss, an American climber who made a big change to help Primoz Roglic win yesterday’s stage, hits some road furniture and the deck. He gets back on his bike and goes in pursuit of the platoon, his shirt torn.

40 min: There is a strong wind on the main stage and the overall ranking contenders compete for position at the front of the group, fearing crosswinds. On ITV, Chris Boardman explains that the platoon is now made up of three different groups: those in front, those trying to get to the front, and those happy to be behind.

Joining him in shared communications, former Sky pilot Pete Kennaugh explains that situations like this can be very stressful, as there is a limit to space on the road and more cyclists than can fit on it who want to occupy the terrain in question.

44km to go: Bahrain-McLaren driver Wout Poels, who is traveling with a broken rib and bruised lung after crashing during the first leg, had fallen, but as he passed his race tracker, he appears to be back in contact.

A question: “In previous years, Team Sky always led the pack from the front and seemed to dictate the pace,” writes Chris Lamb. “Why isn’t Ineos doing that this year, and what does it mean that Jumbo-Visma seems to have taken on that role?”

Well I think it means that Jumbo-Visma are the new schoolyard bullies and the fierce pace they dictated yesterday helped Primoz Roglic win the stage.

Defending champion and Ineos team leader Egan Bernal is apparently suffering an injury and not riding particularly well, so I am assuming his teammates keep the powder snow dry until week three, hoping to retain the most. amount of energy possible and waste as little time as possible. . That’s just my two cents, other opinions are available and welcome.

53km to go: In the polka dot sweater, Benoit Cosnefroy was boxed in on the right side of the road as the peloton approached the top of the climb, but a path was cleared for him and cleared to take the lone King of the Mountains point that is offered. .

57km to go: Lamination! Lamination! Lamination! Keep that platoon rolling! There is a slight danger of crosswinds, which could destroy the platoon. Because of this, most of the overall contenders have moved to the front of the group by hitting the slopes of the first of today’s two Category 4 climbs.

A big shout from Jeroen Kruijer: “The godfather of all French berserkers has to be Jacky Durand,” he writes.

73km to go: We are 20 kilometers from the first climb of the day, the Col de Serre Colón category 4, which reaches a peak of 434 meters. There’s a King of the Mountains point up for grabs for anyone who bothers to dispute it.

75km to go: “I can’t blame the guys for taking it easy after a tough few days in the saddle,” writes Simon Hoer. “I would do the same. What is the average speed during a rest day in the professional saddle?”

Interestingly, while nothing is happening this afternoon, it is actually happening quite fast. The average speed of the peloton today was just under 25 miles per hour, which is pretty fast.

Meal time: It is the highlight of the day for cyclists as they pass by the feeding station, grab their musettes full of food, throw them over their shoulders and begin to deposit the goodies they contain in the pockets of their shirts. Here, courtesy of the Global Cycling Network, is everything you need to know about what cyclists eat on the road …

78km to go: “Rather than being boring, there are few things more relaxing than simply watching the peloton cross the countryside and small French villages,” writes George Young. “Of course, it’s not the most exciting of live blogging, but like a quiet period at a county cricket game, sometimes it’s nice to nap while watching an elite sport.”

Sam Bennett in virtual green: With points still up for grabs at the end of the stage, Sam Bennett is the virtual leader in the Green Jersey points category over Peter Sagan. His Gaelid companions Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche are the only Irish who have used it in the past.

An email: “The mention of the French berserkers is reminiscent of the Tony Gallopin of nominative determinism,” writes Brian Hudner. “No pause was too unfortunate, no windmill was unleashed.”