Tour de Suisse 2019: Stage 5

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January 1 - June 23, Münchenstein, Switzerland, Road - WorldTour

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

We're about 20 minutes from the start of today's neutralised zone.

Today's stage is the longest of the race so far at 177km.

It looks like we'll be in for another sprint finish today, unless the breakaway makes it to the finish in Einsiedein.

As was the case yesterday, there are second- and third-cat climbs on the run in, but the sprinters shouldn't have any problems dealing with them.

The peloton roll out in five minutes.

And they're off. A 7km neutralised zone awaits, before the racing gets going in 15 minutes.

Of course, Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) won't be racing today. The Welshman crashed with 30km to go on yesterday's stage and was forced to abandon, though he didn't suffer any major injuries. Read the full story here.

No other riders have failed to take the start today.

And the race is on! The peloton leave the neutralised zone and get stage 5 underway.

Here's some footage of the peloton rolling out today, from CCC Team's Twitter feed.

As withe yesterday's stage, today sees all the climbs and sprints packed into the second half of the stage. The first of them, an intermediate sprint, comes 129km into the day.

Four men are away early on. They are Bert-Jan Lindemann (Jumbo-Visma), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) and Fabien Grellier (Total Direct Energie).

The quartet are already 55 seconds up on the peloton.

It's a pretty lumpy start to the stage, with a number of unclassified hills in the opening 40km.

Lindeman has dropped back from the break.

Kung is the best-placed man from the breakaway trio. He lies 25 seconds down on race leader Peter Sagan.

Grellier was out in the break on stage 2, while Kung and Mohoric tried to get away numerous times in the final kilometres yesterday.

It's a strong breakaway trio, but still it looks a big ask for them to stay away on today's stage. Maybe if it was a larger group...

The gap is up to 1:20 now.

162km remaining from 177km

Kung is the virtual leader on the road now.

Here's our full report along with results and gallery from yesterday's stage 4. Italian champion Elia Viviani took the win, outkicking Michael Matthews and Peter Sagan in Arlesheim.

Bora-Hansgrohe leads the peloton, unsurprisingly. Meanwhile, the break are now 2:40 up the road.

Bora are, of course, working on behalf of race leader Sagan, who is seeking his 18th career stage win at the Tour de Suisse today.

Here's our latest story on German sprinter Marcel Kittel, who is taking time away from the sport after terminating his contract with Katusha-Alpecin last month.

Here's a clip of the break out on the road, from the Tour de Suisse Twitter feed.

The riders have covered almost 40km in the opening hour, which is pretty quick considering the hilly terrain traversed so far.

The breakaway are 2:50 up on the peloton now.

Of the three breakaway riders, Mohoric has had the most successful season so far. He finished second at the Slovenian National TT Championships, third at the GP Lugano, fifth at Milan-San Remo, and ninth at Gent-Wevelgem. The 24-year-old is still looking for that elusive victory, though.

Kung already has two wins to his name this season – stage 2 of the Tour de Romandie, where he won from the break, and stage 3 at the Volta ao Algarve, a short individual time trial.

Fabien Grellier's biggest moment of the year came at the Tour of Oman. The Frenchman was caught by race winner Alexey Lutsenko just 100 metres short of the finish atop Green Mountain, eventually finishing in second place on the stage.

120km remaining from 177km

It's all rolling roads now, until the riders hit the second category climb to Sattel after 125km.

Eurosport commentator Brian Smith takes a look at today's finish. It's uphill for the final 400 metres, which are on Swiss cobbles (i.e. far from the rough cobbles of Belgian or northern France). He tips Sagan to take victory.

112km remaining from 177km

In case you missed it, here's Team Ineos' Egan Bernal's reaction to Geraint Thomas crashing out of the race yesterday. The young Colombian is the new #1 for Ineos here, and will look to make an impact in the mountains over the next two days.

99km remaining from 177km

There's some suggestions going around that the final stage of the race will have to be altered, as the Sustenpass isn't yet clear for racing after a long winter. This has yet to be confirmed by race organisers, however. Take a look at the stage 9 profile below.

Team Ineos are up at the front of the peloton along with Bora now.

The break are around halfway through today's stage.

There's still a decent portion of valley roads to traverse before they hit the second-category climb.

Bora-Hansgrohe are still controlling the time gap, which remains at 2:50.

82km remaining from 177km

The break are 30km from the start of the climb to Sattel.

The gap is dropping a little now. The break have an advantage of 2:10 over the peloton.

75km remaining from 177km

The break's advantage is down to 1:50 now.

The riders have raced to the fastest timetable so far, at an average of 40kph.

Trek-Segafredo and Team Sunweb work at the front of the peloton. They're working for sprinters John Degenkolb and Michael Matthews, who should have a good chance on today's uphill sprint finish.

The break's advantage is down to 1:25 as they approach the climb.

47km remaining from 177km

The break are still working together at this point.

41km remaining from 177km

Bora, Sunweb and Trek lead the way in the peloton.

38km remaining from 177km

it's Kung chasing Mohoric while Grellier is some way further back.

Mohoric is 1:50 up on the peloton now.

The climb is 13km long at an average of 3.6% so not exactly a leg breaker.

32km remaining from 177km

28km remaining from 177km

If you're keeping an eye on the U23 Giro d'Italia you won't be shocked to hear that Colombia have once again dominated today. Race leader Andres Camilo Ardila won again, this time atop Passo Maniva. The next three places were all taken by Colombian riders. Tomorrow sees the peloton tackle the Passo di Mortirolo twice!

Mohoric is about to take on the third-category climb at Einsiedeim. It's 1.2km long at 5.8%. One minute back to the peloton.

24km remaining from 177km

Michael Schär goes down at the side of the peloton. Sagan moved across and accidentally touched Schär's front wheel. The CCC rider is helped by a spectator and is back up and running quickly.

Just 45 seconds for Mohoric now.

20km remaining from 177km

The peloton is closing in now – Mohoric is 30 seconds up the road.

16km remaining from 177km

15km remaining from 177km

The peloton make the catch. Bora and Sunweb are up front.

12km remaining from 177km

UAE, Bora, Total, Ineos and Sunweb all have mini-trains up front.

7km remaining from 177km

5km remaining from 177km

They're flying along at over 60kph.

3km remaining from 177km

No one team is totally organised up front.

3km remaining from 177km

It seems like they're just keeping Bernal safe here, even within the final 3km.

The finish is uphill and on those cobblestones, remember.

1km remaining from 177km

Sagan is riding the QuickStep train once again.

Lampaert hits the front, then peels off for Morkov.

Sagan sits on Trentin, who is behind Viviani and Richeze.

Viviani opens the sprint as Trentin peels off around the final corner for some reason.

Sagan follows but he can't get around Viviani.

The black jersey beats the yellow jersey to the stage win. Eight in 2019 now for Viviani.

It was Richeze dropping back not Trentin, apologies. It looks like Jasper Stuyven took third.

Here's a shot of Viviani crossing the line.

A great run to the finish for QuickStep. They took to the front at around 1.5km to go, and judged the run-in to perfection with their multi-coloured leadout of best young rider Asgreen, Belgian champion Lampaert, Danish champion Mørkøv, Argentine champion Richeze and black jersey Viviani.

Viviani after the finish:

Sagan holds on to the race lead and the points classification lead. Claudio Imhof and Kasper Asgreen keep the mountain and young rider jerseys too.

Stage result

Here's a look at tomorrow's stage, which should shake up the race in a big way. Expect the climbers to come to the fore on the first summit finish of the race.

Deceuninck-QuickStep are on 39 wins for the season after today's stage. They have Enric Mas leading their GC challenge this week. Number 40 tomorrow?

Click here for a brief report and results from today's stage. The full report will be up shortly.

That's all for our live coverage of stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for more from stage 6!

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