2018 Tour de France: Stage 5 News, Notes & Quotes

Peter Sagan outsprinted Sonny Cobrelli to ride into his 90th green jersey today at Stage 5 of the 2018 Tour de France.

Sagan Makes It Look Easy

Despite a climb at the finish and an increase in pace, Sagan was there at the finish to make his move. Finishing more than a bike length ahead, the Slovak rider took the win, making it look easy as only he can.

“My BORA-hansgrohe teammates did an amazing job today – Bodi and Burghardt were pulling on the front from the middle of the stage before everyone else brought me into position for the final climb,” Sagan said. “In the final stretch, Sky started to pull hard and go full speed, and then Gilbert came over the climb fast too. He tried to attack but we caught him and after, I think Van Avermaet started a little too early, so it really left me and Colbrelli to fight it out. I was pretty lucky because Colbrelli was coming close near the end. During the Tour de France everything is different, but the parcours was like an Ardennes classic – up down, left, right, narrow roads. Technically it was a nice parcours. While there weren’t as many points today – just 30 for the win – it’s better than nothing though, and tomorrow is another day.”

“Today, it was even more important to be in the right position before the last downhill section,” added Enrico Poitschke, BORA-hansgrohe Sporting Director. “Every single guy did a stellar job in the last 30km and as a result, Peter got another chance to take the win. He was there, he waited, and like he often does, he picked the right moment to launch his sprint. It was an impressive second stage win! Still, we are already looking forward to tomorrow. Every day is another day, and we‘ll try it tomorrow again.”

Cobrelli in the Sprint

“I was on Sagan’s wheel,” said Sonny Colbrelli, today second again, “and I tried to anticipate him. I was side by side and maybe I got over him for some seconds, but then with 100 meters to go the legs broke out and the world champion beat me! ”

“Looking on the bright side and I must say that last year’s Tour I could not even make the sprint, while this year I play for the victory. Of course, winning today would have been better, but I will try again”.

Van Avermaet Sprints to Seventh keep yellow

By the time the race reached the first official climb of the day, the Côte de Kaliforn, the day’s early seven-rider breakaway was being held around four minutes up the road with BMC Racing Team in control of the main bunch.

It was on this 1.7km climb, which had an average gradient of 7.1%, that Sylvain Chavanel (Team Direct Énergie) attacked his fellow leaders and as he swept up the KOM points, he was 30 seconds ahead of the chasing group while the gap to the BMC Racing Team-led peloton remained steady at 3’50”.

On the penultimate categorized climb, the 3km long Côte de Menez Quelerc’h, Van Avermaet and Richie Porte remained well-positioned thanks to the work of their teammates who still surrounded them.

Attacks at the head of the race saw Toms Skujins (Trek-Segrefedo), Lilian Calmejane (Team Direct Énergie) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) move into pole position with 45km to go and while Skujins and Calmejane were able to stay in front on the Côte de la Montagne de Locronan, they were ultimately not able to hold off the chasing pack.

Küng continued to lead the BMC Racing Team train as the two leaders were swept up just before the bonus sprint which saw Van Avermaet take two bonus seconds as the race came back together heading into the final 10km.

The roads narrowed quickly with 3km to go and BMC Racing Team’s hard work throughout the day paid off with both Van Avermaet and Porte in the first few positions as the road kicked up going under the flamme rouge.

Van Avermaet looked strong as he matched the subsequent bursts of acceleration on the short but sharp climb before sprinting to seventh on the line and securing another day in the yellow jersey.

Porte also finished safely in the first group to move up into 12th overall on the General Classification while Tejay van Garderen remains second, two seconds behind Van Avermaet.

“I was trying to win the stage that’s for sure but it was pretty complicated. Phil [Gilbert] went early and he is up there on the GC so I couldn’t let him go and I had to ride by myself,” said Van Avermaet. “Then, I think I went a bit too early on the sprint. I thought the corner was closer to the finish and that’s the thing that went wrong I think. However, we gave it a try and we also didn’t lose any time with Richie. The team did a perfect job to put us into position in the final.

“It was a really demanding day for a lot of guys and I think the team did a great job all day. We spent a lot of energy but I think on these kind of days you can lose more time than on a mountain stage so it’s better to do that. I think we did great today so we will see how it goes tomorrow. Having the yellow jersey gives us a little more space in the peloton and Richie is the kind of rider who likes to be in a good position up at the front all day. We are still focusing on the podium in Paris but will continue to take it day by day and try to make the best results possible as we go along.”

Toms Skujins first Latvian to ride in Polka Dots

Toms Skujins won the final two categorized mountain points of a hilly stage five at the Tour de France to claim the polka dot jersey Wednesday, the first Latvian to achieve the honor.

It was never the team’s plan to ride for the jersey, but after successfully joining the day’s breakaway of seven riders the dynamics changed in the leading group leading to a shift in tactics for Trek-Segafredo and Skujins.

“First we wanted to get in the break,” explained Skujins. “We had seven pretty strong guys there, and I was thinking that we might be fighting for the stage, and I was not going to waste any time on sprinting for KOM points.

“But everyone has their own tactics, and when Chavanel went solo that definitely didn’t help the chances for the break because then [his teammate] Calmejane didn’t ride for like 20-30kms. It changed the dynamics of the break a lot, and after that when another guy crashed out [of the break] too, it was okay, lets at least get the mountain points and combative prize.”