Tour de France 2015 Stage 5: And thats two for Greipel…

Tour de France 2015 Stage 5: And that’s two for Greipel…

Stage 5 leads 189.5 flat kilometres from Arras to Amiens. A wind-swept race boils down to a bunch sprint with André Greipel taking his second win in the 2015 Tour de France, besting Sagan and Cavendish. No changes in the overall. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 5th stage Tour de France

1. André Greipel (ger) s.t.
2. Peter Sagan (svk) s.t.
3. Mark Cavendish (gbr) s.t.
4. Alexander Kristoff (nor) s.t.
5. Edvald Boasson Hagen (nor) s.t.
6. John Degenkolb (ger) s.t.
7. Arnaud Demare (fra) s.t.
8. Bryan Coquard (ger) s.t.
9. Davide Cimolai (ita) s.t.
10. Greg Van Avermaet (bel) s.t.

GC after stage 5
1. Tony Martin (ger)
2. Chris Froome (gbr) + 0.12
3. Tejay van Garderen (usa) + 0.25
4. Tony Gallopin (fra) + 0.38
5. Peter Sagan (svk) + 0.33
6. Greg Van Avermaet (bel) + 0.40
7. Rigoberto Uran (col) + 0.46
8. Alberto Contador (spa) + 0.48
9. Geraint Thomas (gbr) + 1.15
10. Zdenek Stynar (cze) + 1.16

11. Warren Barguil (fra) + 1.19
12. Bauke Mollema (nld) + 1.44
13. Vincenzo Nibali (ita) + 1.50
14. Robert Gesink (nld) + 1.51
16. Alejandro Valverde (spa) + 2.03
17. Nairo Quintana (col) + 2.08
18. Joaquim Rodriguez (spa) + 2.12
19. Jean-Christophe Peraud (fra) + 2.19
21. Romain Bardet (fra) + 3.06
30. Thibaut Pinot (fra) + 6.03

Race report
Nicolas Edet and Pierre-Luc Perichon make a move from the gun. The duo races to a 2 minute lead in no time and then Edet stops his efforts. Obviously his team, Cofidis, will want him to support Bouhanni as much as possible. But a moment later bad luck strikes when the sprinter hits the tarmac and leaves the Tour de France in an ambulance.

Perichon pushes on to reach a 4 minutes gain, but he recognizes the hopelessness of his efforts and the gain drops. Shortly after the intermediate sprint his escape is history. After he has taken all points, Greipel wins the sprint in the bunch, cementing his lead in the points classification.

With 70 km’s left hard winds split the pack. All GC men and sprinters are still on board in the first group, but Majka and Porte are in the second group minutes adrift.

Despite the strong winds no echelons in the remainder of the race and that’s good news for the sprinters. They go head to head in the streets of Amiens and just like at Neeltje Jans in stage 2 André Greipel is fastest, with Peter Sagan second. Mark Cavendish definitely has got work to do.