Fifth stage of the Tour de France, and itÂ’s a flat one. Yes, we can expect a sprint today, but it wonÂ’t be easy for the most pure sprinter to arrive to the final kms in good place and with energies left, as there is a tricky final kms, with that climb inside the final 10 kms. Also, itÂ’s a day over 210 km.
Ben Swift will be willing to repeat his win in the opening stage, while riders as Demare or Van Stayen have a big chance today to take a win.
We can see Taaramae in his Yellow Jersey waiting for the start of the stage. He took it yesterday after the TT, and has stated that he isnÂ’t willing to lose it until Paris
Lots of attacks in the first 20 kms of the stage, as lots of riders want to be in the breakaway, with the chance to fight for a KoM lead thanks to those 4 Cat.4 climbs in the route. Finally, right before the first climb of the day, Van der Haar is able to create a gap to the bunch, and also goes first in the first climb of the day, taking the provisional lead in the KoM standings
Cote du Mont Huan - Cat. 4
Van der Haar 5
Barbero 3
Senyenov 1
Behind Van der Haar, three riders have been also able to breakaway, including KoM leader Barbero. Now thereÂ’s a four-rider group in the head of the race, and they have quickly gained a 4-minute gap
Van der Haar Senyenov Bol Barbero
In the second climb of the day - and as all of them, a Cat.4 climb - itÂ’s Senyenov the one that goes through it first. But the battle for the KoM lead is between Van der Haar and Barbero. With the points of the previous climb, both riders were now tied with 15 points on the lead, and whoever score more points in the next 3 climbs will be the new KoM leader.
With van der Haar being second ahead of Barbero, the Dutchie now has 18 points, against BarberoÂ’s 16
Cote de Dieppe - Cat. 4
Senyenov 5
Van der Haar 3
Barbero 1
Only a few kms later, thereÂ’s another Cat.4 climb, and again, Senyenov takes the 5 points in the top. With van der Haar scoring only 1 point here, Senyenov has joined the battle for the KoM lead, as he has now 16 points, same as Barbero, and only 3 less than van der Haar. The Dutch rider will secure the KoM lead if he is at least second in the final climb of the day
Cote de Pourville-sur-Mer - Cat. 4
Senyenov 5
Bol 3
Van der Haar 1
Still over 100 km to go, but the advantage of the breakaway is getting too dangerous to control it for teams like Evonik or Aegon, as they have 9 minutes to the bunch
The breakaway is now on the final climb of the day, Cote de Toussaint, and with less than 1 km to the top, Van der Haar is leading the sprint for the points. He has both Barbero and Senyenov on his wheel
Barbero is the first one to explode. HeÂ’s out of the KoM battle. Now Senyenov is gaining ground and will take again the most points in this climb. Now he needs that either Barbero or Bol crosses the line ahead of Van der Haar. And Bol is coming really quick...
... but Van der Haar miraclously holds on that second place and will be the new KoM leader after the stage
Col de Toussaint - Cat. 4
Senyenov 5
Van der Haar 3
Bol 1
Meanwhile, Evonik, with a little help from Wiesenhof, has managed to reduce the gap to 4 minutes with 75 kms left
20 km to go and the bunch is already seeing the leading group, as their gap is only around the minute. Some riders are being dropped in the back, although neither Tenorio or Nerz are among those. A good sign for both riders for the upcoming mountain stages
Only 10 km left, and the four riders in the front are still holding a 50-second gap to the bunch, where riders from Evonik, Aegon and Nemiroff are desperately trying to bring back those riders. And now it starts that un-categorised climb in the final kms. LetÂ’s see if we have an usual sprint, a breakaway win, or someone tries to attack from the bunch
Bol is making his move for the win in the top of the hill! Only 5 km left, and with a little descent now and the final couple of kms being flat, he might have a chance. The other riders have been caught by PibernikÂ’'s and VillellaÂ’'s awesome work in the last kms. But the high rhythm has provoked that most of the sprinters arenÂ’'t in the very first places of the group
Van der Haar has been able to join Bol in the first part of the descent, and now both have almost 20 seconds on the bunch
But both are caught inside the final 3 kms, as Evonik lead-out train is working perfectly now for Van Stayen. Aegon'Â’s train is trying to gain ground in the left side of the road, but they wonÂ’t have it easy, while Nemiroff is forming his own in the right side
We are now inside the 2 final kms, and Van Stayen is on prime position to take the win. He only needs to do a good sprint, because his team has done it all perfectly until now. Keukeleire has been able to catch the BelgianÂ’s wheel, and might be the biggest danger for his win. Also, Vanderbiest is still following his train, but he isnÂ’t too far away from Van Stayen, with Demare on his wheel. Meanwhile Swift is having lots of problems to be in a good place, and wonÂ’t be a key part on this sprint
Watch out to NemiroffÂ’'s duo, as Polivoda is doing an incredible job to put Vanderbiest next to Van Stayen when they are under the Flamme Rouge. Keukeleire is opening his sprint, going to the left side, while Demare is struggling a lot to follow some wheels. Reimer is in a good place, and might get a top5 only by following wheels, while Swift is completely over as he isn'Â’t between the first 15 riders now - those Aegon riders are Sbaragli and Van der Sanden.
Polivoda superstar! If Vanderbiest ends up winning today, 80% of the win is his. Van Stayen seems to be struggling to match Polivoda's or KeukeleireÂ’'s speed, while Sbaragli seems to be the sprinter today for Aegon. Demare isnÂ’'t too far from the leading places, and might have something to say in the sprint
Vanderbiest is taking the lead inside the final 500 metres, with Keukeleire and Van Stayen not matching his speed at all, but the biggests surprises now are Demare, who almost at Van StayenÂ’'s level, and Swift, who is going at an out-of-this-world speed now, trying to comeback from his horrible positioning
250 metres and Vanderbiest still has an small gap to Keukeleire and Demare, who is the quickest of the first riders now. Swift is coming even faster, but he will run out of space to complete his comeback
Romain Vanderbiest wins in Rouen! Is his first Tour de France stage win in several in 5 years, and the first for newly-promoted team Nemiroff. As i said before, most part of the win is due to Polivoda's amazing lead-out
Demare is able to steal second place from Keukeleire in the photo-finish, while Van Stayen will be very disappointed after choking in the sprint after EvonikÂ’'s perfect lead-out
Not the best sprint for Aegon, but at least they got two riders in the top7, with Sbaragli taking a surprie top5 finish ahead of Porsev and Swift, who could have won if not by his horrible positioning in the final kms
Reimer, Coutinho and Dockx complete the top10 of this stage, after which Rein Taaramae will obviously continue to be the race leader
Vanderbiest goes to the podium to receive his trophy as Tour de France stage winner today in Rouen!
Arnaud Demare is back into the Green Jersey lead! With so many mountain stages in the second part of the race, it will be almost impossible to fight for it, but if he is able to get a couples of wins in sprint or hilly stages, he might have a chance
Tomorrow we'Â’ll have another sprint stage, but this time the route is completely flat, without any climbs. Probably the flattest stage of the whole race
