Peloton hits cobbles as riders enter ‘hell’

03:03 PM

53km to go

Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl has four riders up near the front of the peloton as it nears the Eswars à Paillencourt, before Michael Morkov takes it up once they hit the rough stuff. Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl doing Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl things with Kasper Asgreen on Morkov ‘s wheel.

03:01 PM

56km to go

Magnus Cort sits on the front of the breakaway which leads the peloton by 3min 26sec as they rattle along ov er the next sector of cobbles, the rough looking two-star Eswars à Paillencourt.

02:58 PM

Turgis crashes!

Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies), not for the first time at this year’s Tour de France, has hit the deck. The Frenchman who is a decent classics rider appears to be in pain, writhing around on the ground in pain. Moments later, another Frenchman Mikaël Cherel (Ag2r-Citroën) loses control briefly and swerves to his right, somehow nobody goes down as a result.

02:55 PM

‘Cobbled sections always bring some nervosity’

02:50 PM

64km to go

Simon Clarke, the Aussie who was in the breakaway when the Tour had a cobbled stage in 2014, munches on some food as the small group glides over some lovely smooth asphalt. The next section of cobbles comes in just under 10km.

02:47 PM

65.5km to go

Hearing that general classification rider Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) has puctured. If that is right then he may be losing some time here today, unless his team-mates are on hand and able to shepherd him back on.

02:45 PM

67.5km to go

Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl has a rider at the head of the peloton, with a pair of Alpecin-Deceuninck lads tucked in behind. Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl, as I’m sure you will recall, failed to win a single cobbled classic this spring, in fact they failed  to even get a rider on a single cobbled podium, and so they would love to win this stage today. A Belgian team who over the years has dominated those types of race.

Story continues

02:42 PM

70.5km to go

Jack Bauer (BikeExchange-Jayco) and Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) clipped off the front of the peloton once the first sector of cobbles were done, while Frederik Frison (Lotto-Soudal) is attempting to bridge over to the pair.

02:38 PM

73km to go

Peter Sagan, the 2018 winner of Paris-Roubaix, crashed a few moments ago having lost his rear wheel on a tight left-hand corner. Tadej Pogacar has managed to get himself up towards the front, riding at second wheel tucked in behind Alberto Bettiol who has two EF Education-EasyPost team-mates further up the road in the breakaway. Having played a blinder earlier in the day by getting a pair of riders into the breakaway, I’m not quite sure why Bettiol is riding so hard on the front – he is effectively closing the gap on his team-mates.

02:36 PM

74.9km to go

Dust kicks up on these dry cobbles. Breathing and visibility in the peloton will be difficult in these conditions. The lightweight climbers will be terrified as they hit the first of the bone-rattling cobbles that make this stage so dangerous. The breakaway, meanwhile, has navigated its way over the first section safely.

02:33 PM

Here we go . . .

Edvald Boassen-Hagen (TotalEnergies), Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost), Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech), Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) and Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) are on to the first sector of cobbles. The pace in the peloton has increased, as riders battle for position up near the front.

02:30 PM

80km to go

The peloton now has UAE Team Emirates and Alpecin-Deceuninck up near the front of the peloton as it inches towards the first sector of cobbles. The six-man breakaway leads by 4min 5sec.

02:23 PM

87.5km to go

And breath. Wout van Aert has regained contact with the peloton following his crash. It will be interesting to see if that huge effort from the maillot jaune costs him later in the day. As it stands, the pace in the bunch has dropped a little, allowing the six-man breakaway to increase its lead to a shade below four minutes.

02:17 PM

90km to go

Nathan Van Hooydonck has been gesturing to the rest of the peloton asking them to slow down as his team leader attempts to chase back on. It is heart-in-the-mouth stuff from Wout van Aert who almost clipped a DSM team car as he attempted to weave his way through the trailing vehicles that follow the race.

02:11 PM

Van Aert crashes!

Race leader Wout van Aert has hit the deck, but he was quick to get back to his feet and is back on his bike. Jumbo-Visma team-mate Steven Kruijswijk was involved in the spill which happened after the peloton came out of a roundabout, it appears as if there was a squeeze on the bunch before there was a touching of wheels with Kruijswijk.

The maillot jaune took a bike change and is now chasing back on with Kruijswijk. They have yet to reach the cobbles and there is chaos on the rads of northern France, the chasing pair trails the peloton by around 50sec.

02:10 PM

Pogacar: ‘The cobbles are not so bad’

Speaking to Eurosport, Tadej Pogacar was sounding relatively calm ahead of today’s stage. “The cobbles are not so bad,” the UAE Team Emirates man said. “I have a good shape and if I avoid bad luck it should be ok.”

02:06 PM

100km to go

Breakaway’s lead grows out to 3min 14sec.

02:04 PM

The inside view | Matt White

Our man on the ground Tom Cary has been in touch. Tom spoke with Matt White, the grand fromage at BikeExchange-Jayco, ahead of today’s stage. White reckoned today’s stage would be ‘dramatic’.

“Today’s a mini-Paris-Roubaix so it cannot fail but be dramatic. And I mean, the big difference with Paris-Roubaix is that in the spring, 85 per cent of the riders want to be there whereas today about 20 per cent of the riders want to be there. So that totally changes the tactics.

“A lot of these teams have GC [general classification] leaders. Some of them have some very good classic riders who could potentially win the stage but they won’t let them off the leash. . .  We’re totally off the leash because we have no GC riders. We’ve got a couple of really good classic riders and those guys will be certainly getting freedom to tear it up.”

But does White think Ineos Greenadiers, who have this year’s Paris-Roubaix winner Dylan van Baarle within their ranks, attack in an attempt to gain some time for Geraint Thomas ahead of mountains? “No, that would be very foolish. They’ve got to look after two midgets. If you attacked without Adam [Yates] or Dani [Martínez], that would not be a good idea. It’s gonna be very hard to manage three leaders. You can’t leave the little fellas isolated.”

01:56 PM

110km to go

Slightly over 30km from the first of the cobbled sections for the breakaway. Their advantage is holding steady at 2min 40sec, but that could drop like a stone once they reach the, er, stones. Back in the peloton, Ineos Grenadiers are riding down the right-hand side of the road, lined out in formation as they shield their team leaders Geraint Tomas, Adam Yates and Daniel Martínez from the wind. It will be interesting to see how Martínez copes on the cobbles. The 63kg climber competed at the GP de Denain earlier this spring and managed to finish 29th and so that may suggest he is fairly handy on the pavé.

01:47 PM

116.5km to go

Taco van der Hoorn led the breakaway through the intermediate sprint around three minutes ago, before Fabio Jakobsen (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl) won a half-hearted three-up sprint from the peloton ahead of Wout van Aert. As a result, Jakobsen closes to gap in the points classification on Van Aert, but the Dutchman still trails by 60 points. Defending champion Tadej Pogacar is, by the way, isolated from his team-mates.

01:39 PM

124km  to go

The six-man breakaway presses on, giving it their all as their advantage grows out a little further still to almost three minutes. Further back in the peloton, Trek-Segafredo are riding near the front, as are Jumbo-Visma. As they speed through each small town or village, the peloton speeds up and slows down as it navigates its way around the road furniture.

Everybody will need to stay focused, nobody can afford to lose the wheel in front of them and, of course, nobody wants to get caught out behind and crashes which are, sadly, inevitable in a stage like this.

01:34 PM

126.5km to go

The peloton has eased off the pedals slightly, allowing the six-man breakaway to increase its advantage to over two minutes now.

01:29 PM

133km to go | And then there were six . . .

Simon Clarke, Alexis Gougeard and Neilson Powless have managed to bridge over to stage leaders Edvald Boassen-Hagen, Magnus Cort and Taco van der Hoorn. With two EF Education-EasyPost riders in the group it looks as if the team is planning something here today, possibly attempting to move Powless up the general classification, or ensure he is out of harm’s way. The talented young American started the day 1min 13sec down on Wout van Aert.

01:24 PM

136km to go

There is a second trio on the road made up of Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech), Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM) and Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) and they are closing in on stage leaders Edvald Boassen-Hagen, Magnus Cort and Taco van der Hoorn. Just 11sec separates the two small groups, while the peloton is a minute down. Theis stage is being contested at breakneck speed.

01:19 PM

140km to go

Crash in the peloton, but thankfully just one rider – Max Walscheid (Cofidis) – went down. The German lost a handful of seconds, but after taking a bike change he was soon up and running, he enevn managed to give the TV cameras a thumbs up.

01:11 PM

147km to go

By the way, all of the cobbles some in the second half of the stage with the first sector – Fressain à Villers-au-Tertre – starting 77.3km from the line. It has been a fairly fast start to the day’s racing. That trio of riders has increased its advantage over the maillot jaune to 18sec, while a big group featuring two general classification riders from EF Education-EasyPost (Neilson Powless and Rigoberto Urán) has made a move off the front. With team-mate Magnus Cort up the road, does this mean the American team are plotting something?

01:05 PM

Early attack

A three-man group comprising Edvald Boassen-Hagen (TotalEnergies), Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) and Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) has clipped off the front, but they have just a handful of seconds on the peloton.

01:00 PM

And they’re off!

Having finally ridden through the neutralised section of the stage, where there were a few minor crashes and a few mechanical issues for some riders, including three-time world champion, Peter Sagan, the flag has been dropped and the racing is under way.

12:55 PM

On yer bikes!

While the peloton taps its way through the fairly long neutralised zone in the countdown to KMO, spare a thought for  18 brave amateurs who are currently entire Tour de France route one week ahead of the professionals, led by former footballer Geoff Thomas, raising over £1 million for Cure Leukaemia. Sadly, Thomas had to withdraw from the ride following stage eight due to an injury.

After testing themselves on the cobbles, Cure Leukaemia’s The Tour 21 rider Alastair Kennedy from Leeds, said about stage five: “The cobbles were nuts, absolutely barking mad but also the best fun on a bike. I found sector four the worst and that was where the blisters and burning palms kicked in, but we all got through remarkably well and just had the one off but thankfully he was ok.” Chapeau!

Anyone who wishes to support through fundraising can do so at https://justgiving.com/campaign/thetour21

12:50 PM

Remembering Richard Moore

Lovely touch from Tour de France organisers ASO who a short while ago paid tribute to the late journalist Richard Moore. Many of you will know that Richard was a co-founder of the Cycling Podcast and was a familiar voice to fans of the sport around the world. Richard was a lovely man with a huge, huge heart and a lifelong passion for the sport which came through with his brilliant writing.

09:20 AM

Hello

And welcome to our live rolling blog from stage five of the 109th edition of the Tour de France, the 157-kilometre run from Lille to Wallers-Arenberg, the day that some are calling a mini-Paris-Roubaix.

Before we have a brief look at today’s stage, let’s have a quick recap of Tuesday’s action when Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) underlined his status as a generational talent with a sensational solo victory. It was an incredible performance not only by the Belgian, but of his team too – reminiscent of their dominant ride on the opening stage of Paris-Nice where they claimed a one-two-three in Mantes-la-Ville.

While Van Aert was able to bask in the glory of his magnificent seventh Tour stage win, compatriot Jasper Philipsen suffered the ignominy of celebrating his second place as if he had won the stage. . . because he had thought just that. To Philipsen’s credit, his sprint was mightily impressive with the 24-year-old outmuscling the big unit that is  Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) proving why, surely, it is only a matter of time before the Alpecin-Deceuninck sprinter takes a maiden stage win.

Van Aert’s stage win saw the 27-year-old extend his lead in the general classification by 22sec, but there were no other changes of significance in the overall standings.

The great all-rounder also extended his lead in the points classification, although Fabio Jakobsen (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl) will wear the green jersey on his behalf once again today.

It was another day in the breakaway for Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) who added a further five points to his tally in the mountains classification and so will wear the polka dot jersey for a third successive day. With no categorised climbs today the Dane will carry that leader’s jersey into tomorrow providing he completes this treacherous looking stage safely and within the time limit.

Overall defending Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) kept hold of his white jersey as leading young rider, while Britain’s Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), riding his maiden Tour, trails by 17sec.

So, what’s on today’s menu?

Cobbles, cobbles and a few more cobbles. Featuring 18km of pavé that make Paris-Roubaix – a race nicknamed the ‘hell of the north’ – one of the toughest one-day race on the calendar, today will provide the riders with a stern test. While the classics specialists may be licking their lips in anticipation, the general classification contenders and some of the lightweight climbers may be approaching this stage with a little more circumspection. There may be under half the amount of cobbles that feature in Paris-Roubaix, but those sections that do feature are tough – just two are rated as two star sectors, while the remaining ones are rated as three or four.

Given he has had, by his standards, a relatively quiet race so far, I suspect Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuinck) is plotting something special today, while his great rival Van Aert may also have something tucked up one of his yellow sleeves. The latter, however, may be on policing duty for team-mates Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard.

A flurry of classics men – Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies), Florian Sénéchal (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) – will fancy their chances, while Pidcock, winner of junior and under-23 editions of Paris-Roubaix, may also have a crack.

Unbelievably, Telegraph Sport has made it all the way to this point without having rattled out one of the biggest clichés from the opening week of the Tour , so let’s rectify that: the race cannot be won today, but it can be lost. While the stage win will be at the forefront of most of our minds, how the general classification riders cope on the cobbles will provide a fascinating subplot. To be fair to Pogacar and Roglic, both are decent bike handlers and have done well on the cobbles earlier in the season – the former finishing fourth at the Tour of Flanders, while the likes of Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) goes well on this sort of terrain. Positioning will be key this afternoon once they hit the first sector – Villers-au-Tertre à Fressain – at around 2.40pm.

And finally, the weather . . .

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