Key events
114km to go: “Good afternoon.” Good afternoon William Peyton. “After yesterday’s thrilling mountainside heroics, one imagines the GC teams will enjoy a pax romana today. Unless there’s been a nefarious pact between them and the more sprint focused outfits to control the pace later on. But who really knows about the politics of the peleton, the machinations in the massifs, the bylaws of the bunch?
“Either way, it should be a relaxing jaunt, and only near the end will we see something a stomp, and one hopes it is Cavendish over the line first. As everyone surely does. Good day to sell tenterhooks.”
You’re not wrong so far. There’s a great sitcom/art-house film to be made set entirely in a peloton.
118km to go: Russo and Vercher will I’m sure be reeled in at some point but no one’s inclined to yet so the locally based pair are giving it a good old go amid the beautiful foothills scenery of their home region. They lead the peloton by 4:22.
124km to go: Still no major developments, with local lads Russo and Vercher around 4mins 40sec up the road from the peloton, which is being controlled at its front by Declercq and Dillier. The main sprinters still being kept under wraps.
130km to go: The riders covered a modest 37.8km in that first hour. It’ll liven up …
135km to go: Russo and Vercher are still alone up the road, now more than four minutes ahead of a pack fronted by Marc Soler and Tim Wellens of UAE Team Emirates. In general though we’re still shadow-boxing/treading water/insert alternative sporting metaphor of your choice here.
140km to go: A Pogacar meanwhile is perched near the front of the peloton but taking things easy, laughing and chatting with fellow riders as the breakaway pair’s gap to the rest now extends to three minutes
144km to go: Mattéo Vercher has also jumped out of the pack to join Russo, with the peloton now more around 1:50 behind the leaders. Both riders are not unfamiliar with these roads, being local to the Lyon area
146.4km to go: A little bit of attacking as the Frenchman Clément Russo of Groupama–FDJ hits the front and opens up a gap on the peloton of around 30 seconds as they zip through a busy and enthusiastic village.
152km to go: A group of three make a go of forging ahead of the pack but it’s not sustained, and it’s all pretty much as you were. The pace picking up a tad though.
158km to go: Amid a nice overhead shot of Le Chateau de Épierre, the small group fronted by Van der Poel is absorbed back into the pack, which is fronted now by Tim Declercq of Lidl-Trek, Pogacar tucked in not far behind him. All still pretty sedate …
164km to go: And Van der Poel hits the front for now, in a group of six riders, as the pace picks up on a slight downhill stretch, and Ayuso and Lazkano are sucked back into the peloton, which itself is now strung out.
166km to go: It’s not ideal that the intermediate sprint is so late on this stage, in terms of giving us some early excitement and movement, as the peloton spreads out with Van de Poel at its front, a mere 12 seconds or so behind the front pair.
Cav could do without this …
169km to go: A couple of riders, Juan Ayuso and Oier Lazkano, have carved out a 45-second or so gap on the peloton but no one else is minded to respond at this point. It’s been a predictably slow start into these headwinds, as we hear a bit of team radio banter from Intermarché–Wanty to Kobie Goosens imploring him to shift himself up the road.
172km to go: No early breaks yet, unsurprisingly, as they take a pleasant amble by the river.
177.5km to go: so they’re off to Saint-Vulbas. Green jersey holder Abrahamsen plonking himself in the front part of the peloton
The riders are now making their way out through the agreeable looking streets of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne …
There’ll be a wind factor to deal with on today’s stage too, as well as possible rain. And here’s William Fotheringham’s stage guide:
Stage five, Wednesday 3 July: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas, 177.5km
A run out of the Alps through Chambéry, home of the Decathlon-Ag2R team since its foundation in 1992. This should be a second sprint stage, and Decathlon will be fired up to launch their Irish sprinter Sam Bennett, set to return to the Tour for the first time since 2020. He’s won four sprints this year but whether he has the legs of last year’s points winner, Jasper Philipsen, remains to be seen.
And as we emerge from the mountains, those polka dot jersey standings:
A recap on what happened yesterday, and Pogacar’s assumption of that yellow jersey.
Preamble
Morning everyone. So, is this going to be a procession?. Tadej Pogacar has looked as authoritative as he ever has in this Tour so far and yesterday’s stage win, in which the Slovenian left his rival and last year’s winner, Jonas Vingegaard, for dust late on in the mountains, laid down the most emphatic of markers. Pogacar’s 45-second lead over Remco Evenepoel, and his 50sec one over Vingegaard, already looks a tall order.
But anyway, today we’ve got a sprint to look forward to at a flat finish, in the first stage so far that begins and ends in France, and another chance for Mark Cavendish to do something after some frustrating early stages. The Manxman struggled in the searing heat at the weekend but it shouldn’t be quite so hot today with possibly a bit of rain forecast. As well as Cavendish, expect some focus on Ireland’s Sam Bennett, of the Decathlon team, who’s also had some frustrations thus far, not least in stage three’s carnage.
This is also another stage that sees a try-out of the new adjustments to safety protocols, with the 3km “safety zone” at the end of the stage increased to 4km.
How they stand
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 19:06:38
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal – Quick-Step +45
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Team Visma – Lease a Bike +50
4. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates +1:10
5. Primo* Roglic (Slo) Red Bull – BORA – +1:14
hansgrohe
6. Carlos Rodríguez (Spa) INEOS Grenadiers +1:16
7. Mikel Landa (Spa) Soudal – Quick-Step +1:32
8. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates “
9. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl – Trek +3:20
10. Egan Bernal (Col) INEOS Grenadiers +3:21