Tour de France stage 5 – Live coverage

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 5 of the Tour de France.

Today the riders will tackle the first time trial of the Tour, a 27.2-kilometre test from Changé to Laval.

It's the first of two time trials during the race, which has a total of 58 kilometres against the clock. That's the most at a Tour since 2013.

It's not a pan-flat course today, with a lot of rises and dips. Early on there's a kilometre at six per cent, with another kilometre-long climb at the 9km mark, and a 700-metre kick in the final kilometres too.

Favourites for today's stage include Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quickstep), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Stefan Bissessger (EF Education-Nippo), Mikkel Bjerg, Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates).

Worlds time trial champion silver medallist Van Aert should be the outright favourite for the win, and looks a good bet to take the yellow jersey from Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) – ahead of Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep). The Belgian has saved himself on the past two sprint stages to go all-out here.

In the GC battle, Alaphilippe will look to gain time on injury-hit Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers). The pair will be concerned about Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates), too, with the Slovenian standing a good chance to come out on top of the big three. Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-Nippo) are ones to watch.

The stage kicks off at 12:15 CEST (around 45 minutes away), with race leader Van der Poel setting off at 16:50 CEST.

The map of today's stage.

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An overview of how time trial technology has evolved

Van der Poel isn't tipped to hang on to yellow today, but he'll be trying his best nonetheless. His team have even gone as far as sourcing some Princeton Carbonworks TT wheels.

According to Het Nieuwsblad, the team got in touch with Dutch hotel boss Mark Putter in the Pyrenees, who has borrowed a pair of wheels from Ineos Grenadiers' rider Cameron Wurf, and then driven 10 hours from Andorra to the Tour to hand-deliver them on Tuesday.

Van Aert has to make up 31 seconds on Van der Poel to take yellow. Alaphilippe lies just eight seconds down on the Dutchman.

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15 minutes to go until the start of the stage. Here are the start times today.

Shoulder strapping for Thomas today. He'll be in some pain out there after dislocating his shoulder the other day. Roglič will be too after the road rash he has all over his body.

Amund Grøndahl Jansen (BikeExchange) kicks off the action.

There's not many great time triallists setting off in the first hour, so we won't be seeing anyone sat in the leader's hot seat all day.

Here's our story on Van der Poel's new wheels...

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Cameron Wurf's spare Princeton Carbonworks wheels driven 900km to stage 5 TT

Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma) is setting off now. He's injured but should put in a good time if he goes all-out.

Chris Froome (Israel Start-Up Nation) begins his effort.

Marc Hirschi, Mads Pedersen and Bryan Coquard are among the other notable riders out on course at the moment.

A number of riders have passed the first checkpoint at Saint-Jean-Sur-Mayenne after 9km. The Tour website has yet to update with any times though, so all we know is that Martin is fastest so far with a time of 11:58.

Stage 4 winner Mark Cavendish sets off in a few minutes. Time trial specialist Mikkel Bjerg follows shortly afterwards.

22:35 for Marco Haller at the second checkpoint, quickest so far.

Tony Martin sweeps through next though. He's 17 seconds quicker than Haller and should be the quickest man at the finish from these early runners.

Only three others within a minute of Martin at that checkpoint at the moment.

35:44 for Haller at the finish but Martin is coming to the finish soon.

35:33 for Martin at the finish, just 11 seconds up on Haller. He's quickest so far though.

Lotto Soudal's Harry Sweeny is quickest at the first check now. He set a time of 11:18, 40 seconds quicker than Martin. Sepp Kuss is second at 10 seconds.

Mike Teunissen is quicker than Martin at the second check at 22:09.

Kuss is going very well. 21:35 at the second check means he's34 seconds up on teammate Teunissen after 17.2km.

Hirschi crosses the finish line 55 seconds down as Arnaud Démare starts his effort.

Froome finishes his day at 36:20, 47 seconds down on Martin.

11:09 for Bjerg at the first check. Quickest so far, besting Sweeny by nine seconds.

Meanwhile, Sweeny has beaten Kuss by 15 seconds at the second check.

Bjerg catches and passes Cavendish at the midpoint of the stage.

Our colleague at Velonews, Andrew Hood, reporting that the riders are all taking COVID-19 tests after the time trial today.

Lotto Soudal's Thomas De Gendt sets off in 10 minutes. He should be up towards the top of the leaderboards today.

ISN's Omer Goldstein with a nice ride today. He's second at the finish, four seconds down on Martin.

Bjerg 35 seconds quicker than Sweeny at the second check. 49.7kph average for him.

Teunissen and Kuss coming to the finish now, and they should go top.

35:22 for Teunissen, 11 seconds up on Martin.

Kuss smashes it though, finishing with a time of 33:57!

33:53 for Sweeny at the finish. He pips Kuss.

Bjerg smashes the times at the finish. He's top with a time of 33:01.

Luke Durbridge is second at the finish, 41 seconds down on Bjerg.

De Gendt second at the first check, a second down on Bjerg.

Cofidis rider Anthony Perez is going well, too. He was second at the second check, 21 seconds behind Bjerg's time.

It's drizzling out on course now. At least it is at the finish as Démare finishes.

De Gendt second at the second check, though he's lost time. The Belgian is now 22 seconds down on Bjerg there.

No other top times to speak of in the last few minutes... We're waiting to see how De Gendt finishes soon.

Perez is coming to the finish now, too.

Perez goes third. That's two Cofidis riders in the top 10 so far.

Five minutes until world hour record holder Victor Campenaerts sets off.

33:57 and fifth for De Gendt at the line. He faded as the stage went on.

33:49 for Max Walscheid as he goes fourth fastest. EF's Jonas Rutsch is having a good day, sixth at the first check.

Tao Geoghegan Hart and Jasper Stuyven set off.

Camenaerts is close to the first checkpoint now.

11:55 for Campenaerts at the checkpoint. That's only 21st quickest so far.

Bissegger will be starting his effort soon.

The rain is falling steadily now.

Brandon McNulty will be setting off soon after Bissegger.

Bissegger's teammate Rutsch will be the next man to threaten the top 10 at the finish.

Spanish time trial champion Ion Izagirre is out on course. He's 12th at the first checkpoint.

And here's Bissegger to start his ride.

Rutsch takes ninth at 34:14. Still nobody has challenged Bjerg at the top of the leaderboard.

McNulty is off.

11:24 for Omar Fraile at the first checkpoint. That's a good time from him.

Bissegger is only fifth at the first checkpoint. He's through at 11:18, nine seconds down.

McNulty 71st at the checkpoint, so that's the last we'll hear of him today. He crashed and had to change bikes.

Fraile, meanwhile, is 32 seconds down at the second check. That's fourth quickest so far.

Kwiatkowski, Gilbert, Simon Yates all set to start soon, as Woods and Majka are in the early stages of their efforts.

21:05 at the second check and Bissegger has improved but he's still 20 seconds slower than Bjerg.

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Dorion Godon crosses the line in 12th place. Nobody else threatening the leaders at the moment, not until Fraile and Bissegger finish, at least..

33:46 for Fraile! That puts him fourth at the finish.

Plenty of rain on the camera as the moto follows Bissegger into the closing three kilometres. It's grim out there today, and things are looking good for Bjerg with the conditions affecting the mid- and late- starters.

11:12 for Magnus Cort at the first check, good for third quickest. Now we wait for Bissegger.

Bissegger isn't close to Bjerg at the finish! He's 21 seconds down at 33:22... Second place for the Swiss rider.

Cort is second at the second check, eight seconds down at 20:53.

McNulty crosses the line after his crash in a time of 38:55. That's 87th fastest.

Cort is the next challenger we'll be watching. He's around 10 minutes out from the finish.

Peter Sagan and Dan Martin have set off to start their efforts.

A good time for Astana's Huge Houle to finish 10th. He puts in a time of 33:58.

Still an hour and three quarters to go before the last man, yellow jersey Mathieu van der Poel, sets off.

A great ride from Cort to go second overall. 33:07 from him means he just misses Bjerg by six seconds.

We've seen a lot of wins from Danish riders so far in 2021 – Vingegaard, Cort, Honore, Wurtz Schmidt, Kron, Mads Pedersen have all won races this season. 

Now two Danes lie atop the leaderboard at the moment...

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34:25 for Simon Yates and 15th place. That's a decent ride from him today.

Mattia Cattaneo goes quickest at the first checkpoint! 11:03, six seconds up on Bjerg.

Stefan Kung is setting off now. Will he be the man to de-throne Bjerg?

And now EF's Neilson Powless is quickest at that first check. He's five seconds quicker again.

Dylan Teuns fifth at the first check. Some good time triallists out on course at the moment.

The roads are drying out after the rain stopped, too.

Michael Valgren and Stefan De Bod are also in the top 10 at the first check.

Meanwhile, Cattaneo fades to second at the second checkpoint, three seconds down on Bjerg.

Powless faded on the run to the second check and now he's seventh, 27 seconds back on Bjerg.

Küng is flying, meanwhile, he's quickest at the first check and takes another nine seconds off the fastest time at 10:49. That's 20 seconds up on Bjerg.

Cattaneo rides to the finish. He sprints to the line and goes quickest!

The Italian is the first man under 33 minutes. 32:55 at the finish.

Miguel Angel Lopez, Ben O'Connor, Richie Porte, Louis Meintjes, Wout Poels all out on course now.

20:21 for Kung at the second check. He's blitzing the course at the moment, 24 seconds up on Bjerg there.

Richie Porte is second at the second check, 23 seconds down on Kung.

Kung inside the final 500 metres and he's well up.

32:19 – 36 seconds up on Cattaneo!

Here comes Primoz Roglic! He's about to start his effort.

32:55 for Porte puts him in third place.

Geraint Thoms sets off now, too.

Soren Kragh Andersen is fifth at the first check. He's likely to be top 10 today.

Fuglsang, Nibali, Chaves, Uran, Mollema, Higuita, Lutsenko next to come. Then it's the top 10 on GC...

Asgreen and Vingegaard – another two Danes – go one and two at the first checkpoint. They're both a second up on Kung.

10:54 for Roglic at the first check. That's a good time considering his injuries. He's six seconds down on Asgreen's best.

Vingegaard losing time, though. He's five seconds down on Kung at the second check.

Uran and Mollema set off.

Asgreen also going slower. He's 17 seconds down, so behind Kung and Vingegaard.

20 minutes until last man Van der Poel sets off.

Thomas 17 seconds behind Roglic at the checkpoint...

Fuglsang eighth at the checkpoint, 10 seconds behind Roglic.

33:19 for Soren Kragh Andersen at the finish. He takes sixth place.

Guillaume Martin finishes almost three minutes down.

25 seconds between Roglic and Thomas at the second checkpoint...

Vingegaard comes to the finish.

He can't take top spot, though. Eight seconds down on Kung!

Uran fifth at the first check, three seconds down on Roglic. Mollema a further four seconds back.

Tadej Pogacar sets off! He follows Mas and Quintana down the start ramp.

Alexey Lutsenko goes fourth at the first check, quicker than Roglic! He really found his time trialling legs nine years into his pro career...

Kelderman off now. Van Aert next. Can he dethrone Kung?

Nibali a minute down on Roglic as he passes through the second checkpoint.

One kilometre to go for Roglic.

Gaudu 19 seconds down on Roglic at the first check as Van Aert heads off. Three men left to start – Carapaz, Alaphilippe and Van der Poel.

Roglic passes Lucas Hamilton in the closing metres.

32:44 for fourth place, 25 seconds down on Kung. That's the GC benchmark set.

Carapaz off as Thomas is about to finish.

Asgreen finished third-fastest at 32:37 a few minutes before Roglic finished. We didn't see much of his ride with the GC men setting off.

Alaphilippe is off!

Uran seven seconds down to Roglic at the second checkpoint. Nobody matching him yet...

His compatriots Quintana, Higuita and Chaves at 11:30, 11:38 and 11:38 at the first check. Over half a minute down on Roglic.

33:18 for Thomas. 34 seconds lost to Roglic in this time trial. He's injured, but it's hard to see where he makes that time up if he's slower in the TTs.

Tadej Pogacar has blitzed the first checkpoint. He's ahead of Roglic, he's ahead of everyone!

The reigning champion is 10 seconds up on Asgreen already... 16 up on Roglic.

Van Aert six seconds down on Pogacar at the checkpoint. The Slovenian could be riding into yellow if he keeps that up.

Van Aert only has seven seconds to play with ahead of Pogacar on the GC.

Uran finishes with a time of 33:08 to go ninth.

Carapaz 34 seconds down on Pogacar at the first check. 18 down on Roglic.

Alaphilippe through the first checkpoint 23 seconds down. He won't take yellow if he keeps this up.

Pogacar 17 seconds up on Kung at the second check. 35 seconds up on Roglic.

Van der Poel flying early on! He's just seven seconds down on Pogacar there and level on time with Van Aert.

33:47 for Mollema at the finish.

Lutsenko crosses the line. 33 minutes dead to go seventh.

Van Aert 21 seconds down on Pogacar at the second check. It looks like Pogacar will be in yellow tonight.

34:14 for Gaudu at the finish. 33:14 for Latour. 

Carapaz losing 1:04 at the second check.

Alaphilippe 49 seconds down on Pogacar.

Pogacar coming to the finish now. A kilometre to go.

Van der Poel fifth at the second check! He's only 22 seconds slower than Pogacar!

34:36 for Quintana at the finish, nearly two minutes lost to Roglic.

Pogacar quickest at the finish. He stops the clock at 32:00, 18 seconds up on Kung.

32:39 the goal for Van der Poel to stay in yellow.

Kelderman, Van Aert, Carapaz, Alaphilippe and Van der Poel left to finish.

Kelderman hasn't had a good day out. 33:49 for him.

Van Aert now. He takes fourth place on the stage, 30 seconds down at 32:30.

Van der Poel is hanging on to yellow in the virtual count, still.

Carapaz 1:43 down on Pogacar at the finish.

1.5km to go for Van der Poel.

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33:11 for Alaphilippe at the finish, not close to taking yellow today in 13th place.

Van der Poel keeps yellow! He finishes 30 seconds down on Pogacar at the finish!

He only lost one second to Van Aert in the end.

Pogacar hugged Van der Poel to congratulate him midway thorugh his interview.

"Today was a really good day for me," Pogacar said. "It was just a really good day today. I didn't do any mistakes. It was perfect weather for me but sadly some guys went out on wet roads. I had perfect conditions and perfect temperature.

"I checked the course. In the last few time trials I did mistakes after starting super fast. I paced myself pretty good and found a perfect rhythm to the end.

"The goal was not to lose the time, but I gained time so I'm super happy. I'm just excited for the whole Tour.

"I would love to have the yellow jersey but Mathieu looks super nice, so it's fine."

Today's winner Tadej Pogačar.

Yellow jersey holder Mathieu van der Poel.

Here's our stage 5 report...

Tour de France: Pogacar smashes stage 5 time trial

Defending Tour de France champion makes up for lost time, Van der Poel keeps yellow jersey

Which GC riders lost time on stage 5 time trial at the 2021 Tour de France

Pogacar blitzes the course to put time into Roglic, Thomas, Carapaz and the rest

Here's what today's stage winner Van der Poel had to say after the stage...

"I surprised myself today. I have to thank the team, we worked until midnight on the bike fit to try and get some more watts. I pushed myself beyond my limits, I am super proud of myself.

"I had some good reference points and saved some energy to really fight toward the end because I knew the last 2km were decisive. I had some left in the tank.

"I said yesterday I thought I would lose the jersey and it wasn't a lie. It's not my specialty but I've outdone myself today."

We'll have news and reaction from Van der Poel, Pogačar, Alaphilippe, Van Aert and Küng coming up later this afternoon/evening.

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An update from the CPA rider's union, which has filed a police complaint against the spectator who caused the stage 1 crash. The person was arrested in Brittany earlier today.

"This afternoon, on behalf of CPA, Pascal Chanteur filed an official complaint with the police against the spectator who caused the crash during the Stage 1 of the Tour.

"Around 50 riders were impacted by the crash – all travelling around 40km/h. CPA and the riders hope this will encourage spectators to reflect and take to respect the riders."

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Jumbo-Visma leader loses 44 seconds to Pogacar on stage 5 but fights the pain to stay in contention