Sprinters foiled in Perpignan

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Another day, another maillot jaune for Cancellara

Lethargy on behalf of the peloton resulted in the first successful breakaway Wednesday in Perpignan, and the re-emergence of Thomas Voeckler as the darling of the Tour de France.

Away in an escape for almost the whole stage from Le Cap D'Agde, 196.5 kilometres from their destination, it appeared at first that this was just going to be another misguided breakaway attempt, as so many of its kind are. And similar in difficulty to the third stage to La Grande-Motte that caught out all bar 28 riders, this time with the Tramontane wind blowing south from the Pyrenées, most believed the real race was behind in the peloton, not with the six hopefuls in front.

Some 60 kilometres from Perpignan, split the race did at the behest of Saxo Bank, the team of maillot jaune Fabian Cancellara, who retained his jersey for the fourth day in succession. But unlike the stage two days prior, all the GC favourites made the 40-man split, and by consequence, nothing came of it, leading to a regrouping 10 kilometres later.

So, as each kilometre ticked by en route to the southern French town that's positioned at the gateway to the Roussillon, it subsequently saw the chances of success tip in favour of the sextet who never gave up on their slim hopes, despite a tenuous 41-second lead some 30 kilometres from the finish.

Française des Jeux was best represented with two in the move, Anthony Geslin and Yauheni Hutarovich; the rest had one. Six kilometres out, Katusha's Mikhael Ignatiev went first, and Albert Timmer of Skil-Shimano followed. Lampre's Marcin Sapa was cooked and dropped off the pace. Along with the two FDJ riders, Voeckler of BBox Bouygues Telecom just covered the moves. Then they all came back.

A kilometre later Ignatiev went again, and this time Voeckler was the first to respond, then countering to go solo. Ever since he took the maillot jaune on the fifth stage of the 2004 Tour de France and stirred the French public's consciousness, exactly five years ago to this day, he'd been dreaming of reliving another such moment, even though he wasn't thinking about it right then.

Eleven seconds ahead of Ignatiev under the kilometre kite and strong enough to take the win, Voeckler continued to ride as if he could feel the Russian breathing down his neck, looking back far more than he needed to. Only 200 metres from the finish at the Place de Catalogne did the 30-year-old from Martinique look behind one last time, shake his head in disbelief, and smile a grin a mile wide.

Locked in ecstasy and agony, Voeckler said, "I didn't calculate any of this at all. I thought that it was impossible that we'd keep our advantage, because we only had 50 seconds left with 35 kilometres to go. I told myself, even if we get through, there are two riders from the same team, one of which is really fast in the sprint [referring to Hutarovich]. But once I got the gap, I went flat out, and when I got under the flamme rouge and still had 10 seconds, I started to believe it."

Leaderboard status quo, although Spartacus was ready to fight

Seven seconds later, Ignatiev was lucky to hold on for second, barely ahead of fast-charging maillot vert Mark Cavendish (Columbia-HTC), who claimed a 154-man field sprint for third from his eternal shadow at this year's Tour, Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Slipstream, leaving the GC leader board at status quo.

"From the first kilometre, I was ready [to split the peloton]," Cancellara told Cyclingnews, "but it did not really happen, because I was expecting to get more of the good wind, the right wind, to explode the whole peloton. Today felt like Belgium, like a small Gent-Wevelgem - small roads from the left and right, you don't know from where the wind is actually coming from.

"Everyone knew the wind would be from the coast when we passed those two climbs [near the middle of the stage]. We tried to be ready and put the hammer down when the moment came, and I pulled as long as I could. I wasn't disappointed, only happy that the whole team was there. I think I've shown for a couple of weeks now my form is here, and I feel I'm getting better and better into the race, because that's what counts for me now.

"I look forward to the Pyrenees and the next stages," he said, Cancellara increasingly becoming a protected rider at Saxo Bank as the days evolve.

Can Bouygues continue their excellent adventure?

How much did Voeckler think about the day that turned him from obscurity to top-of-the-pops five years prior at the 2004 Tour?

"I didn't think once about the fact that it was today," he said.

"I was told after the finish line. This morning, we only celebrated [directeur-sportif] Jean-René's birthday... but I didn't win for him today! Of course, I'm happy I won because the future of the team is not really safe, so this victory means a lot to us. If it can help the team to continue its adventure, then that's perfect. I remember five years ago, we got another sponsor after my ride in yellow, too," he said.

Picture perfect in Le Cap D'Agde

Starting on a tip of coastline near the town of Béziers, the 178-strong peloton got underway in perfect conditions from Le Cap D'Agde, already 27 degrees Celsius and breezy at the 12:45 p.m. départ réel.

After 29 kilometres, two breakaway groups of three combined to form a lead sextet, including Voeckler (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Geslin and Hutarovich (Française des Jeux), Sapa (Lampre-NGC), Ignatiev (Team Katusha) and Timmer (Skil-Shimano). When the peloton behind them decided to take to the call of nature, it became a definitive sign that the aforementioned six would be the break du jour.

Forty kilometres in, 8:45 was the distance between break and bunch, and that's as far as they got; the undulating mid-section of Wednesday's stage with a pair of Cat. 4 climbs after 112 and 115 kilometres, combined with the inevitable start of the chase-down, inexorably reduced the lead group's advantage.

Determined not to be caught out in the wind again, Astana and Saxo Bank began assembling their troops at the fore some 80 kilometres from the finish, and when the team of maillot jaune Cancellara started driving in the heavy Tramontane crosswinds, the peloton eventually split, a lead group of 40 forming at the head. This time, however, most of the GC favourites made the move - the exception being Rabobank's star climber Robert Gesink, who crashed hard before the mayhem and never recovered, X-rays later revealing he had broken his wrist and ruling him out of starting the following day.

A consequence of the crosswind craziness was that it all but chewed-up-and-spat-out the lead of the early escape. But when those driving at the front let up, realising there was nothing to gain, a regrouping occurred, the break's advantage went back out to a minute-and-a-half, and stood an even chance of surviving to Perpignan.

Française des Jeux held the upper hand with two in the move - but among them there was someone who'd been itching for a big win ever since he became a household name at the Tour de France, exactly five years ago.

For images of stage five click here

Garmin-Slipstream M.I.A. in Le Cap D'Agde

The clock struck quarter-past midday Wednesday morning - just 10 minutes before the start of the fifth stage - and only 19 teams had signed in. Missing was the man who finished fourth in last year's Tour, Christian Vande Velde, and his Garmin-Slipstream coterie.

The Cyclingnews posse passed the Garmin-Slipstream convoy en route to the start in Le Cap D'Agde - a holiday town known for being the "nudist capital of the world", according to many travel guides - before encountering heavy traffic of their own, and only made the start with a half-hour to spare. So it was no surprise that their big blue and black bus and team vehicles got caught behind.

Tour organisers love to start on time as per the race itinerary, and it would have been interesting to see if the Tour would have waited for them or not. Maybe officials thought that they went for a Mediterranean skinny dip to freshen the legs before tackling the 196.5-kilometre stage to Perpignan.

Turns out, though, there was another exit they could've taken that would've got them to the start sooner than the one indicated on the Tour roadbook. Ironic that for a team part-sponsored by a GPS navigation company, they were the last team to arrive.

Bypassing the parking area and pulling up at the sign-in, all nine men scrambled out and hopped on their bikes just in time for the 12:25 départ.