Epic moment! Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) won the fifth stage of the Tour de France 2024 on Wednesday. The Briton took advantage of his sprinting ability to become the sole record holder in terms of number of stage victories in the round of France with his 35th win.
On this historic day, the English sprinter was the fastest in the bunch after 139.6 kilometers between Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and Saint Vulbas. Second was Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin – Deceuninck) and third was Norwegian Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility). Antioquian sprinter Fernando Gaviria (Movistar Team) had to settle for eleventh place.
After yesterday’s mountainous day and with the horizon set on next Friday’s time trial, the Tour de France 2024 had two stages scheduled, today and tomorrow, for the sprinters to show off and, as expected, they turned out to be quite bland for the spectator, except for the exciting denouement that ended a soap opera that had already lasted 3 years, that of whether Mark Cavendish would be able to beat the record of victories in the Tour de France held by Eddy Mercks.
The menu of the day was a practically flat day, with just a few small climbs, between Saint Jean de Mauriene and Saint Vulbas of just over 177 km. The breakaway that finally consolidated was composed of only two riders, Clement Russo and Matteo Vercher, who at no time achieved a significant advantage with an Alpecin-Deceuninck as the main responsible for the control of the race that did not want any surprises for the finish.
Already 15 kilometers from the finish line the peloton went into finishing mode, accelerating the pace and causing a somewhat chaotic approach due to the side wind that entered in some areas. Fortunately, the last four kilometers were protected today thanks to the new rules approved by the UCI a few weeks ago.
Sam Bennett took advantage of the situation to launch the finish with forcefulness and, behind him appeared a Mark Cavendish who knew how to open a gap, in his style, with head, elbows and whatever it took where others were locked up. He got out of his wheel looking for free space on the opposite side of the road and in the lurch Mads Pedersen, well behind, went against the fences and fell, fortunately, apparently without consequences.
This space created by Cavendish was also a breath of fresh air for Philipsen, who caught the British rider’s wheel well, but Mark Cavendish’s movement was good and powerful, so the Belgian had no chance to come back.
Mark Cavendish went down in cycling history, if he was not already in it, a Mark Cavendish who can now retire at the end of this season and who was infinitely happy and congratulated by almost the entire peloton after the finish line.
The French round will continue this Thursday with its sixth stage, another flat section, which will be held between Mâcon and Dijon with 163.7 kilometers of route. Along the way, the peloton will face a fourth-category pass in the opening stage.
Tour de France (2.UWT)
Results Stage 5 | Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne – Saint Vulbas (177,4 km)
| 1 | Mark Cavendish | Astana Qazaqstan Team | 4:08:46 |
| 2 | Jasper Philipsen | Alpecin – Deceuninck | ,, |
| 3 | Alexander Kristoff | Uno-X Mobility | ,, |
| 4 | Arnaud De Lie | Lotto Dstny | ,, |
| 5 | Fabio Jakobsen | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | ,, |
| 6 | Pascal Ackermann | Israel – Premier Tech | ,, |
| 7 | Arnaud Démare | Arkéa – B&B Hotels | ,, |
| 8 | Gerben Thijssen | Intermarché – Wanty | ,, |
| 9 | Biniam Girmay | Intermarché – Wanty | ,, |
| 10 | Marijn van den Berg | EF Education – EasyPost | ,, |
Ranking General
| 1 | Tadej Pogacar | UAE Team Emirates | 23:15:24 |
| 2 | Remco Evenepoel | Soudal Quick-Step | 0:45 |
| 3 | Jonas Vingegaard | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 0:50 |
| 4 | Juan Ayuso | UAE Team Emirates | 1:10 |
| 5 | Primož Roglic | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe | 1:14 |
| 6 | Carlos Rodríguez | INEOS Grenadiers | 1:16 |
| 7 | Mikel Landa | Soudal Quick-Step | 1:32 |
| 8 | João Almeida | UAE Team Emirates | ,, |
| 9 | Giulio Ciccone | Lidl – Trek | 3:20 |
| 10 | Egan Bernal | INEOS Grenadiers | 3:21 |