UAE Tour stage 5 live coverage

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the fifth stage here at the UAE Tour.

We join the action just as things start to kick off during this 182km stage from Ras al Khaimah Corniche to Al Marjan Island...

139km to go

The peloton has just split with Alpecin-Fenix driving the front group! Race leader Tadej Pogačar is up there.

A decent gap between the two groups now.

10 seconds between the lead group of around 30 riders and the rest of the peloton.

Ganna, Dumoulin, Plapp are among the riders in the second group.

Bora-Hansgrohe and EF-Easypost doing work in the front group.

Just a minute up the road to the breakaway now. 

It's full of familiar faces – the Gazprom-Rusvelo trio of Michael Kukrle, Pavel Kochetkov and sprints leader Dmitry Strakhov are out there again after their breakaway on stage 2. They're joined by Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè man Alessandro Tonelli, who was in the break on the opening day (along with Strakhov).

133km to go

Well, since I started writing that, the gap has gone down to 25 seconds.

20 seconds between the split peloton. Adam Yates also in the second group.

Bahrain and Ineos working in group two.

We're approaching the first intermediate sprint of the day.

Strakhov will have hoped to add to his black jersey points haul once again but it looks like the break is about to be caught...

131km to go

Breakaway caught.

Strakhov has 33 points in the sprint competition. Second-placed Luca Rastelli is on 14, so the Russian is safe in the lead.

10-15 seconds between the leaders and the second group, which is being driven by Ineos.

Philipsen takes the intermediate sprint ahead of Pogačar, who grabs two bonus seconds.

129km to go

And now suddenly the two groups are back together. 

Pogačar's GC lead is up from two to four seconds over Ganna now.

Riders trying again to breakaway after it all came back together.

Gazprom-Rusvelo and Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè making the moves, unsurprisingly.

Johnatan Cañaveral and Alessandro Tonelli are the men for Bardiani. Pavel Kochetkov and Dmitry Strakhov up there for Gazprom.

123km to go

40 seconds for the breakaway already.

51 green jersey points for Philipsen after that sprint. He leads Pogačar (44) and Strakhov (43). The Russian is still in charge of the intermediate sprint points classification, though.

119km to go

Two minutes for the breakaway now.

AG2R Citroën head up the peloton.

Alpecin-Fenix now with a few riders at the front of the peloton. 2:40 to the break.

A look at the split in the peloton a little earlier on today.

Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert also on the front of the peloton.

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103km to go

2:20 between break and peloton now as the riders head through the desert west towards the second intermediate sprint.

All calm in the peloton at the moment as the riders pass the 100km to go mark.

3:15 for the breakaway now.

Under 10km to go until the second intermediate sprint of the day.

Alpecin-Fenix and Ineos Grenadiers control the peloton.

90km to go

The breakaway is just three kilometres away from the second sprint of the day at Umm al Quwain. 

Kochetkov leads out the sprint with Strakhov in his wheel...

Tonelli tries to go around the outside and Strakhov launches in response.

Strakhov takes it as Kochetkov beats Tonelli to second place.

Eight more points for Strakhov and his lead is extended in the black jersey.

86km to go

3:10 for the breakaway now.

Alpecin-Fenix continue to control the peloton for Jasper Philipsen. Ineos Grenadiers are lined out behind them.

Here's our current breakaway, the second of the day.

77km to go

The pace has gone up a little in the peloton. 2:30 to the break.

Ineos and EF working on the front.

65km to go

Just 1:15 for the breakaway now after that upping of the pace.

Ineos Grenadiers are trying to drive it along now. The riders are heading back north-east through the desert, back in the opposite direction of where they were when the race split apart earlier.

60km to go

The gap to the breakaway has evaporated as the peloton sped up and now they're back with the peloton.

QuickStep, EF, Ineos among the teams driving the front.

No splits in the peloton despite the attempts from various teams at the front.

54km to go

A lull in proceedings now as the pace drops. If the first two days are anything to go by then we're in for quite a dull period of racing.

On stage 1, the break was caught at 20km to go and the peloton slowed right down before the final 10km run-in.

On stage 2, the break was caught at 36km to go and the peloton dropped to just 25kph in a long headwind run before the sprint.

Today, the break has been caught 60km out...

The wind is blowing in off the Gulf at the moment, hitting the riders from their left-hand side. It's not particularly strong at the moment, though.

Here's a wind map for this area.

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Nothing going on at the moment...

42km to go

There are 42 kilometres to go.

A look back at yesterday's stage...

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40km to go

Now the peloton has sprung into life again after that coma-inducing spell of racing.

Alpecin-Fenix push the pace and the peloton is lined out again.

Now the peloton is bunched up again after that short spell of high pace. No fractures in the group.

30km to go

Michael Kukrle (Gazprom-Rusvelo) goes on the attack yet again. The Russian team have really tried to liven up this race in the breakaways.

Kukrle has 40 seconds on the peloton.

25km to go

1:15 for Kukrle now.

20km to go

Now Kukrle has 2:25. He's really giving it a go here. The Czech champion was in the break on stage 2 and he was also in the first breakaway today.

BikeExchange and Bahrain lead the peloton.

14km to go

The sprinter's teams are turning it up now but Kukrle still has almost two minutes.

BikeExchange, Ineos, Bora, EF all up at the front now. 1:40 is the gap.

49kph in the peloton as Kukrle races along at around 45kph.

10km to go

Kukrle still has 1:20 here. It's a big ask to hold off the peloton when there are so many sprint teams interested but he has a chance, however slim.

Now the peloton splits across the road as various sprint squads battle at the front.

8km to go

Groupama-FDJ at the front now. Still 55 seconds to Kukrle.

7km to go

Pogačar has a flat rear tyre! He gets a bike change but it wasn't particularly quick...

Movistar and Ineos take the front of the peloton.

Pogačar has Mikkel Bjerg with him.

6km to go

Kukrle still has 30 seconds.

Pogačar a further 30 seconds down.

Another UAE rider is called back to help. Only two men, though, for the race leader...

5km to go

25 seconds for Kukrle. 15 back to Pogačar.

Two more men drop back for Pogačar but he's at the back of the peloton. He has to move up to the front now.

4km to go

Bora, QuickStep, FDJ, BikeExchange at the front. 15 seconds to Kukrle.

Kukrle isn't going to make it here. Almost back with 3.5 to go.

A great effort, though — both for him today and his squad during the race so far.

3km to go

Kukrle is caught.

Now it's all down to the sprinter's teams.

Israel-Premier Tech up front now.

Love these rear-view camera shots from the bikes which show us precisely nothing of what is going on...

2km to go

Alpecin-Fenix right behind Israel. Bora up there too.

Jumbo and EF also near the front.

Once again it's a total mess of sprint teams fighting for positions.

1km to go

Bora and Alpecin take control in the final kilometre.

And now Israel come back. BikeExchange assemble but are far back.

Israel split off with two men. Bora lead it out!

Philipsen vs Bennett in the finale...

It's another win for Philipsen! Kooij was just behind.

Bennett and Kooij behind him went to the barriers while Philipsen had more space to work with. The Belgian won that on pure speed.

Malucelli and Barbier were up there as well.

Kooij actually edged out Bennett at the finish there.

Philipsen celebrates as he crosses the line.

Some big names – Ackermann, Cavendish, Démare (seventh), Viviani (sixth), Groenewegen – totally out of the mix at the finish today.

Here's what Philipsen said after his win today...

"It was a really fast finish and we lined up really well with the team. We had a good plan. In the last kilometre my lead out man lost his chain so that was a bit of chaos to find a good wheel. In the end it all came out well so super happy.

"Winning never gets boring so it's just the same adrenaline feeling. We just go for it [tomorrow] eh? Everything that comes tomorrow is extra and we'll be motivated for it as always."

Top 10s for the stage and GC are up.

Philipsen takes to the podium once again.

Here's our brief report and results for stage 5.

We'll have news from race leader Tadej Pogačar coming soon, as well as our rider of the day article.

Pogacar comes through crosswinds, a sprint, and a late puncture to extend UAE Tour lead

Philipsen on the podium — he has extended his green jersey lead and looks set to take that home. One more sprint stage left to run.

That's all from our live coverage of today's fifth stage. Check back for our rider of the day and then live reporting from stage 6 tomorrow.