Tour de France

Stage 5: Épernay - Montargis, 185 km/116.3mi

By Cathy Mehl

Order has been restored to the universe – Mark Cavendish has won his first stage at the 2010 Tour de France.  Taking much heat and criticism from the press for lack of results in this year’s race, the 25-year old sprinter set things right on Thursday by earning his 11th career Tour stage win.  Unable to hold back his emotions on the podium, Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) was finally able to let go of the tension and enjoy his moment in the sun.  And sunny it was with temperatures soaring into the mid-90’s for much of the day as the race continues to head southeast toward the Alps. 

Second place went to Germany’s Gerald Ciolek (Milram) more than a bike length behind Cavendish.  In third was Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Sky.  There were no changes on the classification with Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) taking his 21st career yellow jersey.  The Shack’s Lance Armstrong remains the best-placed team rider in 18th place.

Before the stage start  Alberto Contador slipped over to the Team RadioShack bus to present Team Manager Johan Bruyneel and Lance with watches as gifts of gratitude for work in last year’s Tour.  Other 2009 Tour riders had received their watches at an early season training camp in Spain, but Bruyneel and Armstrong had not attended the camp.  Lance acknowledged receiving the gift, saying, “Yes this morning.  It was very generous and it shows he recognizes the support of a great team.  It’s a nice gesture.”  Asked about his relationship with Alberto at this Tour, he said, “It’s fine.  Maybe in the press room or to people watching on TV it looks heated but it’s really not.  There is very little said, very little dialog, and that goes also from our team to his team.  There is a mutual level of respect there that we have for each other despite what went on in the last 12 months.   I think we’re both kind of tired of the drama and just looking forward to the next two weeks and seeing who is the best guy this year.  You can’t take away the fact that he’s maybe the most talented guy to ever throw a leg over a bike.  I don’t have a problem with saying that.  I think what we saw last year was an impressive performance on all levels: climbing, time trialing, recovery, motivation, mental toughness.”

Asked about his role with the Team after the Tour, Lance responded:  “I’m going to watch as much bike racing as I can from the beach.  And if it’s live, I can call Johan and give him feedback.”  A journalist asked if he’s already looking forward to the end of the Tour and he replied, “I am. I am extremely motivated but I’m looking forward too.  It was a stressful first four or five days, unlike anything we’ve ever seen.  People that have been at this event for 40 years would agree this has been extremely volatile and dangerous first week.”  Speaking about his obligations off the bike, Lance said he’s tried to step back from so many appearances this year but has still made visits to see patients in hospitals, including a recent trip in Rotterdam.  Noting that standing up for hours with a group is not a regular occurrence for a cyclist during training, he added, “As long as I can just sit and talk and relate to people you don’t get physically tired. Obviously you come away emotionally tired but emotionally inspired as well. It’s still a big part of my life.  For me it’s truly an added motivation sometimes.”

A typical break went early and included Spanish champion Ivan Gutierres (Caisse d’Epargne), Jurgen van de Walle (Quick Step) and Julian El Fares of Cofidis.  The gap went out to almost eight minutes and for a time it looked like the peloton was uninterested in bringing them back.  But HTC-Columbia was interested, indeed, and put in the bulk of the work required to bring back the trio of riders.  At 10km to go the gap was 37-seconds and Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) drove the pace of the main field.  At 6.7km to go Gutierrez used his time trialing skills to attack his former companions and zipped away from the group.  The other two were swept up while Gutierrez powered on, but after a long day out front he just didn’t have enough left in the tank to hold off the rush of the peloton.  He was caught with 4km to go and the sprinters took over the pace. 

Lampre tried to disrupt the work being done by HTC-Columbia and put a man on the front, with Garmin taking their turn as well with David Millar driving the train.  A final sweeping right hand bend had Garmin still in control, but teammate Mark Rensahw dropped off Cavendish at just the right time and he went roaring up the middle to claim his first win in the 2010 Tour de France. 

The route continues south on Friday with the longest stage on the Tour at 227.5km/141mi from Montargis to Gueugnon.   The stage has four category 4 climbs along the way but might be another day for the sprinters.  There aren’t many of those left before the peloton hits the climbs of the Alps on the weekend.

Beyond the Finish Line: In this region of Champagne you will find a collection of 16-th century timber churches.  These Romanesque and Renaissance churches have curious pointed gables and caquetoirs (rickety wooden porches).  Many have intimate and often beautifully carved interiors with stained-glass windows in vivid colors.  Rural roads link many of the churches. 

Top Ten Results

1              Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team HTC - Columbia       4:30:50                   

2              Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Team Milram                              

3              Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Professional Cycling Team                          

4              Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne                      

5              Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team                                  

6              Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom                                 

7              Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Katusha                      

8              Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini                    

9              Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale                                  

10            Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin - Transitions

Team RadioShack Results

18           Christopher Horner (USA)

30           Lance Armstrong (USA)

35           Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr)                                

36           Levi Leipheimer (USA)

38           Andreas Klöden (Ger)

42           Jani Brajkovic (Slo)

70           Gregory Rast (Swi)

96           Sergio Paulinho (Por)

186         Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) 0:05:23

General Classification after Stage 5

1              Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank                22:59:45                

2              Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling Team      0:00:23  

3              Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team       0:00:39  

4              Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Transitions            0:00:46  

5              Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step             0:01:01  

6              Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank        0:01:09  

7              Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team                 0:01:19  

8              Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana        0:01:31  

9              Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana                 0:01:40  

10            Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto          0:01:42

Team RadioShack on General Classification

18           Lance Armstrong (USA)   0:02:30 

24           Levi Leipheimer (USA)   0:02:53 

26           Jani Brajkovic (Slo)  0:03:00

28           Andreas Klöden (Ger)  0:03:01  

43           Christopher Horner (USA)   0:03:17

52           Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr)   0:03:26

121         Sergio Paulinho (Por)  0:12:17      

122         Gregory Rast (Swi)  0:12:35

181         Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz)  0:30:21               

Photos courtesy of Graham Watson