Tour de France 2019 result: Peter Sagan clinches stage five victory in Colmar

Relive all the action from a tricky day through the Vosges

Tour de France 2019: Stage 4 summary

Slovakian Peter Sagan won the fifth stage of the Tour de France, a 175.5-km bumpy ride from St Die des Vosges on Wednesday.

The three-time world champion beat Belgian Wout van Aert and Italian Matteo Trentin in a sprint finish. France’s Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey.

The overall contenders had a quiet day in the peloton ahead of Thursday’s sixth stage, a 160.5-km ride from Mulhouse ending at the top of La Planche des Belles Filles.

Click on stage 5 to refresh the live tracker

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Race preview

Christian Prudhomme, the race director, didn’t say it overtly, but when his team designed this particular Tour de France route, they did so with a goal in mind to disrupt Team Sky’s smothering rhythm. Sky had spent the last decade sitting on the front of the peloton in formation eating up the road kilometre by kilometre, day by day, carrying their strongest rider to the podium in Paris on a gilded yellow cushion, and their methodical approach garnered few fans in cycling’s heartlands.

One French journalist speaking to The Independent last summer compared them to Real Madrid winning the Champions League three years in a row. “They have the best players, the best riders… I’m bored,” he said. In L’Equipe Sky were described as “the snake with two heads”, referring to the dominance of Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome. Race organisers ASO came under pressure to take away Sky’s certainty and make the race more unpredictable.

“Our desire is not to make things harder but more varied,” Prudhomme said at the 2019 Tour’s unveiling. “There will be less hors catégorie cols [the most severe climbs] than in previous years but there will be more second category climbs. There will be more medium mountains, where the race is harder to control, and we take full responsibility for that decision.”

In theory it makes sense, and if ever there was a stage to test that new ethos it is stage five from Saint-die-des-Vosges to Colmar: 175.5km of rolling hills featuring four tough categorised climbs, two of which stand back-to-back in the final 40km. It is a day that the general classification players like Team Ineos (now re-badged from Sky) hope is uneventful, but which could easily slip out of their grasp and into the lap of the gods.

The flat-ish start invites a breakaway and there is likely to be an almighty scrap for the chance to be among the chosen escapees. The peloton could take it easy and let them go, although there are plenty of puncheurs who can profit on a technical finish like this one, which rushes up and down two climbs on route to the finish at Colmar, and who might be unwilling to simply hand over the stage to the breakers.

The pure sprinters like stage-four winner Elia Viviani are likely to find this one too hard going, which means if Peter Sagan is still in contention near the final summit he will be a huge favourite to win the stage as the fastest man left. But he will likely falter somewhere along the way when the road tilts up; the winner will need a climbing engine combined with skilful descending abilities and a long kick to the finish.

The man in polka dots, Tim Wellens, has said he is targeting a win here while one-day specialists like Greg van Avermaet and the man in yellow, Julian Alaphilippe, are the type of riders who could triumph. Alaphilippe’s priority will be to retain the yellow jersey, but don’t rule out another stunning solo burst that earned him an impressive victory on stage three.

Yet if the breakaway is a few minutes clear coming into the final two climbs, while the peloton begins shedding stragglers, they may stay clear from the reduced bunch and the winner will come from the break. Getting in there in the first place will be half the challenge.

Five contenders

Julian Alaphilippe – He is the No1 road racer in the world for a reason, and could repeat his display on stage three. ****

Greg van Avermaet – The Olympic champion is targeting stage wins and this route suits his punchy style. ***

Thomas de Gendt – A connoisseur of the breakaway who could profit if the break stays away. **

Tim Wellens – The man wearing the polka dots will be keen to get to the front of the race and add to his King of the Mountains points haul. **

Peter Sagan – If the pace is a little slow and he copes with the climbs, Sagan has the speed to win a reduced bunch sprint. *

[10 July 2019 16:32 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Wout van Aert and Matteo Trentin came in second and third. It is Sagan's first win of this Tour, and the 12th of his career.

[10 July 2019 16:36 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Confirmation of the top 10:

[10 July 2019 16:51 · Lawrence Ostlere]

A smooth day for the GC riders like Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal and co, while Julian Alaphilippe retains the yellow jersey. We'll leave you with our stage report: