E-Paper
Van Avermaet wins Tour’s fifth stage
LE LIORAN (FRANCE): Greg Van Avermaet rode into the coveted yellow jersey as he won Wednesday’s fifth stage of the Tour de France.
LE LIORAN (FRANCE): Greg Van Avermaet rode into the coveted yellow jersey as he won Wednesday’s fifth stage of the Tour de France.
It was a second stage win for the cobbled classics specialist who also won a stage last year.
Van Avermaet, 31, attacked fellow Belgian Thomas De Gendt 17.4km from the end of the 216km stage from Limoges to Le Lioran to also rip the yellow jersey from Slovak Peter Sagan. He finished more than 2min 30sec ahead of De Gendt with Pole Rafal Majka in third over 5min back.
The overall favourites rolled in just behind Majka after an attack from the peloton by Frenchman Romain Bardet 3km from home sparked some action.
Two-time former winner Alberto Contador lost more time, around 30sec, as he continues to recover from injuries sustained in crashes on the first two days.
But reigning champion Chris Froome and chief rival Nairo Quintana came over the line together.
Van Avermaet now leads Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe by 5:11 with Alejandro Valverde of Spain two seconds further back.
Nine riders broke away 20km into the stage but eventually three of those went clear with the other six forming a chase group.
De Gendt, Van Avermaet and Andriy Grivko of Ukraine built up a lead of more than 2min 30sec to the six pursuers and over 15 minutes to the unrushed peloton.
Finally, in the last 50km, Froome’s Team Sky and Quintana’s Movistar took up the peloton pace-setting “to respect the race”, Movistar director Jose Luis Arrieta said.
