Primož Roglič’s Tour de France challenge suffered a severe setback after he conceded more than two minutes to Tadej Pogačar on the cobbled stage 5 to Arenberg. The Slovenian suffered a dislocated shoulder when he crashed ahead of sector five, with a little over 30km remaining, and he was unable to get back on terms with his fellow GC contenders.
It was a trying day all around for Jumbo-Visma, who were hit by crashes and punctures, but Wout van Aert managed to hold onto yellow by 13 seconds from Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) after an intense late pursuit, while Jonas Vingegaard successfully limited his losses on Pogačar to 13 seconds despite an untimely puncture and no fewer than three bike changes.
Roglič, who now lies 44th at 2:36 behind Van Aert – and 2:17 down on Pogačar – was among a number of fallers at a roundabout with 30km to run, with a loose bale of straw appearing to cause the pileup.
The Slovenian confirmed that he had dislocated his shoulder in the fall, emerging from the Jumbo-Visma team bus to give interviews with the waiting press 45 minutes after the stage had ended, as other teams were departing for their hotels.
"Luckily, I’m still here. I didn’t see really good, but I think a motor touched the protection and it slid into the middle of the road," Roglič told the media, including Cyclingnews.
"I couldn’t put [my shoulder] back in on the road so I needed to sit on the chair of spectator and put it back in."
Van Aert was the first of the Jumbo-Visma riders to run into difficulty on Wednesday when he crashed before the race had even hit the cobbles, and the Belgian never looked at ease thereafter. He was already caught on the wrong side of a split at the front of the peloton on the pavé when he was called upon to wait for his stricken teammate Vingegaard, who lost ground after suffering a puncture with 36km remaining.
The Dane conceded further time after making no fewer than three bike changes. He first swapped onto the bike of Nathan Van Hooydonck but the size difference meant that he was unable even to sit on the saddle. He then briefly changed onto Steven Kruijswijk’s more suitably sized bike, before the Jumbo-Visma team car eventually reached him with his own spare machine.
Vingegaard now lies seventh overall at 40 seconds, almost two minutes up on Jumbo co-leader Roglič.
"I bumped into another guy and something happened with my chain. It was stuck. Looking back maybe I should have just stopped and taken it out, but it’s bike racing and I was stressed. I managed to only lost 15 seconds so I think I have to be happy at that considering how it looked at one point," Vingegaard said following his warm-down.
"Of course, I was stressed and I was nervous, but I wouldn’t say everything was going up in smoke. I was also thinking there was maybe a chance I could come back."
By then, Roglič, who had safely negotiated the early cobbled sections at the head of the dwindling peloton, was enduring difficulties of his own. The Slovenian crashed out of the Tadej Pogačar group just ahead of sector 5 with 30km remaining and he would spend the rest of the day in a forlorn pursuit.
“It was not our plan to have so many crashes and problems today. That is life, we had a crash with Wout in the beginning. Then with Jonas we had a bike change at a really bad moment and then a few minutes later, Primož crashed. That was too much bad luck," said his directeur sportif Niermann.
"You can do a lot of recons, I think I saw this stage four times, but you need some luck and we didn’t have it today – but we’re still there, still standing and still fighting."
Van Aert and Christophe Laporte led the pursuit in the Vingegaard and they found allies of circumstance in Ineos Grenadiers, whose leaders Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates were caught out.
Their combined efforts brought Vingegaard back in contact with the bulk of the GC contenders before the finish, though the Dane still conceded 13 seconds on Pogačar, who had pushed clear of the group of favourites in the intervening period.
Further back the road, Roglič had Van Hooydonck and Tiesj Benoot for company as he gave chase, but he would incur more significant losses by the finish in Arenberg, coming home 2:59 down on stage winner Simon Clarke (Israel Premier Tech) and 2:08 behind Pogačar.
"It was definitely not the day we hoped for," Van Aert said. "Yesterday we fought in the front and today we had to fight in the back. I think everyone liked it more yesterday, but days like today you have to overcome. Especially with Jonas, we keep everything good for GC, not too much damage. I'm proud of everyone to commit in the chase. We will keep fighting."
