Tour de France 2010 – Stage 5

Finally the Manx Missile fires !! The 5th Stage of the TdF was from Épernay to Montargis a distance of 187.5km and was another undramatic & uneventful ride for the peleton.  Marked out as a stage for the sprinters to showcase their sprint prowess it turn out to be the stage for the Mark “Manx Missile” Cavendish to come back to form and add to his silverware collection of TdF stages. Épernay, with a sub 30,000 population, is another champagne capital to note of and it first hosted the tour way back in 1963. The Tour since then has returned twice to Epernay, in 1978 and in 2002. With over 30,000 hectares of vineyards, Epernay attracts around 450,000 visitors every year. The Champagne countryside has also been proposed as a UNESCO world heritage site. The Avenue de Champagne, with 110km of cellars and 200 million bottles of champagne stored underground is one of the most prestigious streets in the world.

The finish town of Montargis with a population of almost 16,000 is becoming a part of the Tour for the 4th time. On the Tour’s last visit, in 2002, the wily fox – then a hare on after-burners, Robbie McEwen, was victorious in a sprint finish. Montargis’ main attraction is its canals and its 131 bridges and walkways. The remains of the royal castle of Renée de France which is being renovated is also a tourists delight. The stage began at Épernay with 188 riders. Amets Txurruka of Euskaltel-Euskadi had to call it quits due to a broken collarbone. The race route for this stage was one with two Category 4 climbs right in the first 40km of the race start & three intermediate sprints spread over the course. Action for the day started of when current Spanish National Road Race champion & five times winner of the Spanish National Time Trial championship Ivan Gutierrez of Caisse d’Epargne broke away from the peleton and took with him Cofidis rider Julien El Fares & Quick Step rider Jurgen van de Walle into what constituted the breakaway for the day. Starting the day at the 50th spot, Gutierrez was behind the Yellow jersey of Cancellara by around 3min 24secs, and as the break away stretched its lead over the peleton by over 5 minutes at the 25km mark, he was the virtual leader of the tour! Soon HTC-Columbia realized that it would have to do the bulk job of pulling the breakaway in and sent Kanstantsin Siutsou to the front. He had some help from Stuart O’Grady of Team Saxo Bank. Cervelo Test team & Lampre also sent in riders occasionally to the front. But it was with around 50km left to the finish that the race began to come alive. By then all the sprinters teams had sent their men forward & HTC Columbia had put its full train into ready mode. With the peleton boring down on the breakaway it was Gutierrez who jumped the gun with 6.5km remaining when he put in a burst of speed and rode away from his breakaway partners. But it was not to be as the peleton soon swallowed him too. For those who are thinking that it was HTC Columbia all the way, it was not as Garmin-Transitions tried to set up Tyler Farrar, (who is racing with a broken left wrist!!), who ultimately was to finish in 10th place. But the rider who rode his race to perfection was the deliveryman Mark Renshaw of HTC Columbia who proved once again that he is one of the finest lead-out men in the world as he timed his operation perfectly. With 240m left, he moved out of Cavendish’s path for the Manx Missile to hit the lift-off buttons. Former team mates Gerald Ciolek of Milram and Boasson Hagen of Team Sky finished 2nd & 3rd respectively as they tried their best to put one over Cavendish, but today it was just not to be, as Cavendish just plowed on to the finish line for his 11th stage victory in the Tour de France.
 Fabian Cancellara though he finished 32nd today keeps the yellow jersey for another day as there was no changes in the overall standings.

At the prize distribution stage Cavendish broke down and was seen weeping away, the tears being one of relief & satisfaction, for having proved to all his detractors that he is still the fastest man on a cycle in the world. Backstage Mark Cavendish had this to say, “I just sat on Mark Renshaw’s wheel and I knew he’d deliver me to the right place and he did. All that pressure that has built up through the year has finally been lifted. For sure, I’m going to try and win more stages but thank god the work paid off today.
 Yesterday we did have luck but I let the guys down. They did a 100% perfect job and it could have been easy for them to give up today but they took it on again. They did more than they should have had to do and that’s an incredible thing. Thor Hushovd who again finished 5th today made an interesting comment in the end, for he now thinks that Boasson Hagen of Team Sky might become the main threat to his Green jersey as he is becoming frighteningly consistent at the finishes!! Food for thought indeed… At the end of Stage 5 the over all race results remain the same with Fabian Cancellara of Team Saxo Bank in the Yellow & Thor Hushovd in the Green jersey. Geraint Thomas of Team Sky continues in the White jersey, Jerome Pineau of Quick Step in the Polka dotted King of the Mountain jersey and so also does Team Saxo Bank who continue as the best team in the race. So till tomorrow …. Au revoir… This is a guest post by Mr.Q, a professional quizmaster and an ardent Tour de France fan who is reporting his 2nd full tour. You can reach him at mrquizmaster@gmail.com