Tour de France: Sagan wins stage 5 in Quimper

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Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) tightened his grip on the green jersey by claiming stage 5 of the Tour de France with a resounding sprint on the uphill finale in Quimper. The world champion timed his effort well on the drag to the line to beat Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) and Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) to the stage honours, while Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) placed seventh to retain the yellow jersey.

At the end of a demanding afternoon in the rugged hills of Finistère, only the strongest remained in contention come the final kick to the line in Quimper, where Gilbert opened the hostilities some 800 metres from home.

The Belgian was looking to claim both stage honours and a stint in yellow, and his forceful acceleration put one in mind of his efforts on the Cauberg over the years, but the gradients were not quite steep enough for him to punch clear. Instead, Julien Simon (Cofidis) closed down Gilbert's effort, and as the gradient eased slightly in the final 400 metres, it was Van Avermaet who found himself leading out the reduced bunch sprint.

After biding his time on the stiffest part of the climb and then holding his nerve as the pace dropped following Gilbert's attack, Sagan unfurled a crisp sprint as the finish line reared into the view. As on stage 2, he faced stiff competition from the in-form Colbrelli, who threatened to get on terms but never quite looked like overhauling the Slovakian.

"It was a little bit lucky because Colbrelli was coming close," Sagan said. "Gilbert came over and tried to attack but we caught him. I think that Van Avermaet started too early and, in the end, he pulled a very good sprint for me and Colbrelli."

When Gilbert's attack fizzled out, one might have expected his Quick-Step teammate Julian Alaphilippe to come to the fore in the sprint, but the Frenchman conceded positions on the final corner and could only manage fifth behind Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).

The sinuous roads and rolling hills in the finale meant that the onus was on the general classification contenders to ride on the front in the closing kilometres. Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) took 6th on the stage, while Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) came across the line in 10th place.

Chris Froome's Sky team were prominent on the run-in, with Gianni Moscon and Michal Kwiatkowski coming to the fore on the approach to the final climb. Froome himself was in second wheel underneath the flamme rouge, and came home in 14th place, with Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Richie Porte (BMC) just behind him.

The bunch spent much of the day pursuing the early seven-man break, with the final survivors Toms Skuijns (Trek-Segafredo) and Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) only swept up in the final 12 kilometres, and the speed was relentless on the twisting approach the line.

Ultimately, the podium contenders all finished together in Quimper, but the Tour's first full day in Brittany provided a robust test of nerve – and legs – as the peloton tackled the rippling hills of Finestère. "The parcours was a little bit like the Ardennes – up, down, left, right and a little bit narrow roads," Sagan said. "It was a nice parcours."

Not everyone will have felt the same. Only 38 riders made it to the finish in the front group, with most of the pure sprinters burnt off through the afternoon thanks to the pace-making of Bora-Hansgrohe and BMC, and later Team Sky. Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step), already winner of two stages, was among those to lose touch in the finale, while Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) were distanced almost 80km from home and came in more than 20 minutes down.

"I think our guys did great, they did a lot of work," said Van Avermaet, who stressed that Porte's GC bid was BMC's priority. "Sometimes you can lose more time than in a mountain stage, so I think that it was important to do it."

In the overall standings, Van Avermaet extended his lead over teammate Tejay van Garderen to two seconds after picking up second place behind Alaphilippe at the uphill bonus sprint with 12km remaining. Gilbert moved up to third overall, three seconds down, thanks to the bonus he picked up at the finish. He will surely try again on Thursday's stiff uphill finish at Mûr-de-Bretagne, and he will not be the only one.

How it unfolded

An ill Michael Matthews (Sunweb) and an injured Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) were non-starters as the race left Lorient, and the attrition continued as the peloton snaked through the neighbouring town of Ploemeur, where an early crash forced Robert Kiserlovski (Katusha-Alpecin) out of the Tour.

The day's breakaway forged clear soon afterwards, as Sylvain Chavanel, Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie), Jasper De Buyst (Lotto Soudal), Julien Vermote (Dimension Data), Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo), Elie Gesbert (Fortuneo-Samsic) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) slipped up the road and established a maximum lead of four minutes.

The Tour's first leg entirely on Breton roads was a day of two halves. The opening run along the coast and then inland to the intermediate sprint at Roudouallec was largely flat, before the race hit a succession of climbs on the rolling roads that led to the finish line in Quimper.

The unity of the break fragmented on the day's first classified ascent, the category 4 Côte de Kaliforn, where Chavanel jumped clear to take the mountains points and then continued with his solo effort over the other side. The Frenchman, who is riding in his 18th consecutive Tour de France, had a lead of 45 seconds over the top of the Côte de Trimen shortly afterwards, while his teammate Calmejane could sit on the wheels behind.

Back in the main peloton, meanwhile, there was a distinct injection of pace as the race hit the rugged terrain in the final 100km, with Bora-Hansgrohe prominent. Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) were among the sprinters to betray signs of suffering as they dangled perilously off the rear of the bunch, and they were distanced in turn as the intensity ratcheted upwards.

The unfortunate Gesbert crashed out of the break when his wheels slid from under him on the descent off the Trimen, and in the kilometres that followed, the unity of the chasing group began to fragment. When Skuijns attacked in pursuit of Chavanel, only Edet and Calmejane could follow, while De Buyst and Vermote dropped back to the bunch. Chavanel was joined by Edet, Calmejan and Skuijns over the top of the Côte de la Roche du Feu with 60km remaining, where they had two minutes in hand on the peloton.

Chavanel sat up on the following Côte de Menez Quelerc'h, while the climb through the evocative village of Locronan with 25km to go saw the end of Edet's involvement at the head of the race, as Skuijns forced the pace. By that point, Skuijns and Calmejane still had almost a minute in hand, but a sudden injection of pace in the peloton saw them pinned back on the climb to the bonus sprint on the Côte de la Chapelle de la Lorette.

It was breathless fare from there on in, but the last word, as is so often the case, fell to Sagan.

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