The yellow jersey seems to be an unlucky charm at this Tour de France.
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The “Gorilla” is unbeatable in the sprints at the moment.
Andre GreipelAndre Greipel of Lotto-Soudal won stage five of the Tour de France, beating Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish, claiming his second stage win of the race.
Chris Froome survived a near miss at the Tour de France but race leader Tony Martin was not so fortunate as he suffered a fractured collarbone which ended his race. Their streak of success comes, handily enough, in a year when German public broadcaster ARD has returned to live broadcasting of the race for the first time since 2012.
Tinkoff-Saxo’s Slovakian superstar appeared depressed at the pre-Tour press conference, admitting the race was all about team mate Alberto Contador’s yellow jersey hopes rather than his own green ones. “We’ve restored our credibility”. Half an hour before Greipel crossed the line, another huge crash happened. Jean-Christophe Peraud, the 2014 Tour runner-up, was halted by the pile-up.
The second stage victor started to make effort late in the final straight but an impressive sprint led him to ease past Etixx-Quick Step’s Briton rider Mark Cavendish, who settled for a third position eventually.
Regulations state that on a flat stage a rider held up in an incident in the final three km is credited with the same time as the victor.
The day’s action took place over a 189.5 kilometre trek from Arras to Amiens in the North of the country. The implication was that even if he were to win stages on the 2015 Tour it wouldn’t please some people because they would be hollow victories against a field deprived of his German nemesis. It must have been particularly painful for Bouhanni as he had battled to get even this far, having crashed badly at the recent French nationals and then again on stage two just outside Rotterdam. Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and Jack Bauer (Cannondale-Garmin) both withdrew after sustaining injuries in separate spills, while Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) hit the deck but managed to chase back to the main group. “With 300 metres to go I thought I was boxed in, but I saw a gap and went for it”.
The 30-year-old German won Tuesday’s fourth stage and relieved 2013 champion Chris Froome of the yellow jersey. Behind, others fell in a domino effect.
Australian riders from the Orica-Greenedge team joined the tribute, wearing black armbands at the stage start in Arras.
The 3km rule meant those involved in or held up by the crash – including Nairo Quintana (Movistar), another of the race favourites – did not lose time and the top of the general classification remained unchanged.
I remember writing a piece that suggested Cavendish would struggle to catch Bernard Hinault’s tally of 28 wins let alone Merckx’s landmark. “It’s not just great for what people did, but it’s a reminder in this day and age, hopefully to find ways of resolving problems and leaving in peace”.
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When Cavendish lost out to Andre Greipel in Sunday’s sprint stage into Zeeland, he was fuming.
