Tour de France stage 5 LIVE result: Tadej Pogacar takes time from rivals as Simon Clarke wins stage
Re-live all the updates as the peloton took on 11 treacherous cobblestone sectors en route from Lille to Arenberg Port du Hainaut
Tadej Pogacar passed his first Tour de France test with flying colours when he gained time over all his rivals on the cobbled roads in a vintage fifth stage on Wednesday.
The two-time defending champion, who was expected to suffer on the 19km of cobbles peppering the 157-km ride from Lille, finished 51 seconds behind stage winner Simon Clarke of Australia but left the overall contenders behind.
“It was a really good day for me, I didn’t have any bad luck and I felt good on the cobbles,” said Pogacar, who as a professional has never taken part in the Paris-Roubaix cobbled classic. “I could not stay strong until the end but I tried.”
Pogacar jumped away from the group of leading contenders with Belgian Jasper Stuyven and built a lead of almost a minute before running out of gas in the finale. “But for sure it’s a confidence booster. I have good sensations,” he added.
Clarke prevailed in a lung-busting sprint finish to beat Dutchman Taco van der Hoorn and Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen, who were second and third, respectively.
Wout van Aert retained the overall lead at the end of a bad day for his Jumbo Visma team, with Primoz Roglic, runner-up in 2020 and one of the pre-race favourites, losing more than two minutes to fellow Slovenian Pogacar after a crash that left him with a dislocated shoulder. It was popped back in by his team staff but Roglic is now already trailing Pogacar by more than two minutes.
Re-live all the action live below.
Tour de France jerseys
If you’re new to the Tour de France, here’s a look at the different coloured jerseys and what they represent:
The meaning behind each Tour de France coloured jersey
The yellow jersey is the most famous and prestigious of them all, but there are three other colours to look out for in the peloton
Stage 5 profile
The day’s profile is a little hilly in places – there are some uphill cobbled sections which drain the legs – but overall it is the terrain rather than the relief which will shape the day.
Stage 5 route map
Today’s route map shows how the peloton will head south from Lille, through an intermediate sprint point, before reaching the cobbles and winding east towards the finish. The key here on the right shows the difficulties of each section of pavé – the most challenging parts come in the first half of the 11 sectors.
Stage 5 start time
The stage is scheduled to begin at around 1pm BST and should finish around 4:30m BST.
How to watch on TV and online
Tour de France coverage can be found this year on ITV4, Eurosport, Discovery+ and GCN+ (Global Cycling Network).
Live racing each day will be shown on ITV4 before highlights typically at 7pm each day. ITV’s website lists timings here.
Eurosport and GCN+ will show every minute of every stage. More on Eurosport’s coverage here and the GCN+ coverage here.
It is also being shown on Eurosport’s Discovery+ streaming service, with broadcast info here.
Stage 4 recap
Jasper Philipsen: “I thought I had won but then I saw Van Aert in front and I never knew he was in front, so yeah. I felt good but at the moment I’m just a bit disappointed. On the climb I never saw him riding in front, it’s a disappointment for sure.”
He added: “For four or five seconds I honestly thought I won, it will make funny images in the end. I didn’t want this though so it’s a bit s**t also. I just didn’t know he [Van Aert] was in front. I also never heard on the radio so yeah that’s a shame and why I sprinted for the win.”
Stage 4 recap
Not everyone realised Van Aert had got away, mind you. Jasper Philipsen clearly missed the moment his fellow Belgian scampered up the road, because when the Belgian sprinter crossed the line in second place he celebrated with a roar and a beat of his chest, thinking he’d clinched the first Tour de France stage of his career.
Tour de France rider mistakenly celebrates after thinking he won stage
The Belgian punched the air and roared thinking he had clinched the first Tour de France stage win of his career
Stage 4 recap
A reminder of what happened yesterday, as Wout van Aert surged away in the yellow jersey on the final climb of the day, and no one could live with him:
Impressive Wout Van Aert soloes to stage four victory at Tour de France
The Jumbo-Visma rider went one better after finishing second in the opening three stages.
Tour de France stage 5
Mathieu van der Poel is the bookies’ favourite today and with good reason, having twice won the cobbled Tour of Flanders. The man in the yellow jersey, Wout van Aert, won sensationally on stage 4 in Calais and will be a contender again here having won cobbled classics like Gent-Wevelgem, while Dylan van Baarle (Ineos), Mads Pedersen (Trek–Segafredo), Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies) and Kasper Asgreen (Quick-Step) all have cobble wins on their palmarès.
Tour de France stage 5
The route is a 157km ride from Lille to Arenberg Port du Hainaut in the north of France. An intermediate sprint early in the piece should bring the sprinters to the fore as they chase points for the green jersey, before the cobbles – or pavé – begin. The same cobblestones which cause such chaos in Paris-Roubaix (dubbed ‘Hell of the North’ for good reason) could well claim abandonments as the riders travel through narrow uneven tracks at high speed. Most of the sectors are around 1.3km long and take around 2 minutes to complete, and the main overall contenders will make it their mission to avoid trouble.
Tour de France stage 5
The 2022 Tour de France has been a relative breeze for most of the riders so far, bar a couple of minor crashes towards the end of the sprint stages. There’s been Geraint Thomas’s unwanted gilet and Jasper Philipsen’s mistaken celebration, but most of the tribulations have been minor compared to what may be in store on stage 5, as the peloton takes on 11 cobblestone sectors which tend to bring no shortage of drama.
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