2017 Tour de France: Démare wins, Cav and Sagan out. Preview of Stage 5

Having shown good form on Stages 2 and 3 Arnaud Démare duly won his first Tour de France stage in Vittel. Unfortunately his victory was overshadowed by the serious crash involving Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan. From the footage Sagan veers across the road to get on Démare's wheel taking Cav over towards the barrier. Then Sagan's elbow is raised. Whether his elbow actually connected with Cav is now hotly debated or whether Cav was now so close the barrier he was crashing anyway.

Whatever – the result is that Cav is out of the Tour with a broken shoulder blade and Sagan has been disqualified and thrown off the Tour. Initially the commissaires penalised Sagan by docking time and Green Jersey points before deciding to disqualify him, which has now caused a huge controversy. 

It is a great shame that the 2017 Tour has now lost two of its biggest stars.It has also blown the Green jersey competition wide open. 

Although involved in another crash within the last kilometre Geraint Thomas remains in Yellow. This crash held up Marcel Kittel. 

Stage 5 Vittel to La Planche des Belles Filles 160.5 kms

The final climb – last part is 20%

After the opening Time Trial this stage, which finishes is the first real test for the overall contenders. La Planche des Belles Filles was first used in 2012 and then again in 2014, so to feature three times in the last five years shows it has rapidly become a favourite. In 2012 Chris Froome won the stage and Bradley Wiggins took the Yellow Jersey and never lost it. The same thing happened in 2014 when Vincenzo Nibali won here and kept the Yellow jersey all the way to Paris. 

I fancy that either Geraint Thomas or Chris Froome will be in Yellow tonight unless a breakaway is allowed to stay away. If other overall contenders want to shake up Sky it would make sense as well as making the race more exciting if they started attacking well before the start of La Planche. It will be interesting to see how Richie Porte goes today – will he put in a big attack? Equally the steepness of the climb should suit Nairo Quintana, so will be an indication whether he has recovered from the Giro. Although time gaps are unlikely to be very big, I think we may well see Alberto Contador lose some time today.

Guillaume Van Keirsbulck was the sole breakaway ride of the day – riding almost the whole stage on his own not getting caught until just over 10 kms to go.

2014 Tour de France: fearsome crunch 10th Stage – France in Yellow

 161.5 kms Mulhouse to La Planche des Belles Filles

The organisers of the Tour are celebrating Bastille Day in style with a fearsomely tough stage, especially as it is now the 10th day of hard racing. There are seven categorised climbs – four Cat 1s, two Cat 2s and a single Cat 3. The stage ends with the climb of La Planche des Belles Filles, which featured in the 2012 Tour when Chris Froome won stage and Bradley Wiggins took the Yellow Jersey and wore it all the way to Paris.

2012 Stage 7: Tomblaine to La Planche des Belles Filles

Today's route is much tougher than the 2012 stage to La Planche des Belles Filles, which had just two Category 3 climbs before the final ascent, which Sky made very tough with a relentless pace. They dropped everyone apart from Cadel Evans who held on to the end and finished second to Froome.  

Can Tony Gallopin hold on to Yellow? It will be a tough ask but being French on 14th July provides huge motivation! Whatever happens Gallopin will be determined to put up a great fight to hold on as long as possible. It will also depend on how much yesterday's efforts took out of him. 

I will be surprised if Nibali is not back in Yellow tonight. Whether he gets to the top of Les Belles Filles before Contador is another matter. It has been suggested that the real attacks will wait until the final climb but there may well be attacks on the penultimate climb – the shortish but steep Category 1 Col des Chevrères. From the top of Chevrères it is straight down and then onto the final ascent. 

This is a big day!   

2012 Tour de France: into the hills after the carnage on the road to Metz

After the succession of crashes on the flat stages, I suspect that the overall favourites, those who had managed to stay intact will be greatly relieved to tackle the Tour's first hilly stage – the 199K from Tomblaine to La Planche des Belles Filles. The stage has three categorised climbs: the Col de Grosse Pierre (a 3k Cat 3 ascent), Col du Mont de Fourche (a 3k Cat 3 ascent) and then the real ascent of the day: La Planche des Belles Filles. 

La Planche is a steep 5.9 Category 1 with a succession of ramps with a gradient briefly as high as 20% just before the top of the climb. With the stage finishing at the top of the climb this is the first real showdown between Bradley Wiggins, Cadel Evans and the other favourites. With the succession of changes in gradient it is thought to suit Evans rather more than Wiggins. Trusting that there are no more big crashes I expect all the favourites to be together for the climb of La Panche des Belles Filles.   

Overall Fabian Cancellara should lose his Yellow Jersey but to whom? Bradley Wiggins? Cadel Evans? Sylvain Chavanel?


Fine report here from Blazin' Saddles on yesterday's stage and crashes.


Update on the abandons:
Following yesterday's crashes the following 12 are out: Mikel Astarloza, Tom Danielson, Hubert Dupont (broken arm), Imanol Erviti, Oscar Freire, Ivan Gutiérrez, Ryder Hesjedal, Robbie Hunter, Wout Poels (three cracked ribs and other injuries), Amets Txurruka, Davide Vignano and Martin Wynants. 


Make that 13 abandons as Anthony Delaplace has now given up the unequal struggle at the 44K mark with a broken wrist. There are now 181 riders left from 198, who started a week ago in Liège.