Stage Five Summary

The 183km fifth stage of the 92nd Tour de France began at 1.21pm. There were 189 riders at the sign on. Despite his dramatic fall in the final two kilometers of stage four, the winner of stage one Dave Zabriskie is still in the race. The leader of the general classification Lance Armstrong wore his Discovery Channel jersey during the neutral zone and only put on the yellow jersey when the peloton stopped at the site of the official start. It was a done as a sign of respect to Zabriskie who lost the overall lead in unfortunate circumstances. _ The stage featured three intermediate sprints; they were in Villeny (at 20km), Aubigry-sur-Nere (80.5km) and Gien (135km). There was just one categorized climb in the stage from Chambord to Montargis, the cat-4 Cote de Bellevue (at 109.5km). _ _ Rapid Start To Stage Five _ The first attack of the stage came from Lowik (RAB), Righi (LAM) and Casar (FDJ). They were caught by the peloton at the 4km mark. Commesso (LAM), Dekker (RAB), Geslin (BTL) and Bodrogi (C.A) were some of the riders who tried to escape early without any success. The points for the first sprint were won by: 1. Boonen (QST) 6pts; 2. Hushovd (C.A) 4pts; 3. O’Grady (COF) 2pts. Flecha (FAS) then went on the attack. At the 29km mark he led the peloton by 28”. Zaballa (SDV) abandoned the Tour early in the stage. No reason was given for his retirement. _ _ Bodrogi Becomes The Virtual Leader… _ At 39km Flecha led a counter-attack by Dekker by 22” and the peloton by 32”. Dekker was caught at the 41.5km. Carlstrom (LIQ) attacked the peloton at 48km. At the 50km mark, Flecha led Carlstrom by 27” and the peloton by 47”. The average speed for the first hour was 52.0km/h. At 55km Carlstrom was joined by Bodrogi and Commesso. At the 2nd sprint the points were won by: 1. Flecha 6pts/6”; 2. Calrstrom 4pts/4” (at 1’10”); 3. Bodrogi 2pts/2”. The peloton was behind by 5’00” and was being led by the Discovery Channel team. This was the maximum deficit during the stage. _ _ Four Escapees _ At the 87km mark, Carlstom, Commesso and Bodrogi caught Flecha. This quartet was 4’10” ahead of the peloton. Just before the feedzone (at 97km) Basso (CSC) crashed. He was helped back to the peloton by five team-mates. On the exit of the feedzone, the peloton was 3’20” behind the four escapees. The Davitamon-Lotto and Quickstep teams came to the front of the peloton to start chasing the fugitives. The climbing points were won by: 1. Bodrogi 3pts; 2. Carlstrom 2pts; 3. Commesso 1pt. The peloton was behind by 3’15”. At the third sprint the points were won by: 1. Commesso 6pts; 2. Bodrogi 4pts; 3. Carlstrom 2pts. The peloton was behind by 1’35”. The advantage of the escapees hovered around 1’40” for about half an hour. With 25km to go, however, the sprinters’ teams got serious about their chase. The work of the Davitamon-Lotto, Quickstep and AG2R teams led the peloton which was 50” behind Bodrogi’s group. The escape was over with 11km to go. _ _ Setting Up A Sprint Finish _ The Cofidis, Quickstep and Davitamon teams led the peloton once the escapees were caught. FDJ riders came to the front in the final 2km and Cooke led his team-mate Eisel around the last turn. Once the sprint began in earnest, however, Boonen (QST) burst ahead of everyone. He appeared in control but McEwen (DVL) came past him in the last 25m to win the stage by about 30cm. _ _ Lance Armstrong finished in the middle of the bunch and was awarded the same time as the stage winner. The Discovery Channel team’s leader will wear the yellow jersey in stage six.