It was a dream come true for Greg Van Avermaet who put in a stunning solo effort that saw him win stage 5 and take the leader’s Yellow Jersey at the 2016 Tour de France.
Incredible Performance
Van Avermaet’s incredible performance sees him with a strong lead in the General Classification, 5’11” in front of Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quick Step), and 5’13” in front of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team).
An early breakaway of nine riders including Van Avermaet formed and established a solid lead of over ten minutes in the first 100 kilometers. Van Avermaet attacked from the breakaway with Thomas De Gendt and Andrei Grivko with 120 kilometers to go.
Grivko was dropped as they approached the final four climbs, leaving Van Avermaet and De Gendt to battle it out for the victory.
Van Avermaet attacked again with 17.5 kilometers to go and powered on to solo to the second Tour de France stage win of his career and first time he has worn the Yellow Jersey.
“It feels great. I was never dreaming about the Yellow Jersey but it is a big dream that has come true. I was happy with the stage win last year, but now another stage win and the Yellow Jersey, I think it’s once in a lifetime for me and I’m going to enjoy it as much as possible tomorrow.”
“I felt pretty good. Grivko was not working at the beginning, Majka was not working, so me and Thomas De Gendt did a really good job. We were the strongest guys from the break I think, and we made the race hard and we saw that the peloton wouldn’t come back on this steep climb. I felt pretty good and I just went on my own because I was strong enough to hold it to the line.”
“I think for my type of rider it’s really hard to get the Yellow Jersey and I’m so happy that I have it. The stage win is something but wearing yellow is the most beautiful thing I think for a cyclist.”
Alaphilippe Holds Onto White Jersey
Julian AlaPhilippe stayed with the best on Wednesday’s stage, which saw his Etixx-Quick Step teammate Dan Martin finish in 5th place.
Alaphilippe rolled over the line in the same time as Martin, assuring that he would keep the white jersey for the fourth day in a row, a remarkable performance for a rider who’s just five stages into his maiden Grand Tour. In the general classification, he rests in second place, while Martin has climbed to 10th, a handful of seconds behind the young Frenchman.
“Today we knew that we will face many attacks from the start and that there was a good chance for a break to go all the way to the line. In the final 35 kilometers, Movistar made the pack’s life difficult, trying to test the other riders, and it wasn’t easy to keep the pace, but I handled this situation well and now I’m happy and very proud for keeping the white jersey. Tomorrow, a flat stage is on the cards and we will try to set up Marcel Kittel for the sprint”, Alaphilippe concluded.
Contador Fights to Stay in Race
Tinkoff continued a strong start to the race as Rafal Majka took 3rd spot as the race hit the mountains for the first time in the race. With Rafal in the top three on the stage, Alberto Contador fought bravely after a tough start to the Tour, finishing a little over thirty seconds after the Polish national road champion.
While the Spanish team leader lost a little time on the stage, Alberto was pleased with how he was recovering after a hard start to the Tour. “I feel my condition improving day by day and it is better than I expected. I lost a few seconds today and I was aware Movistar would do a very hard race. I was mentally prepared for that.”
Sagan Loses Yellow
After fighting hard in the opening four stages, yellow jersey holder, Peter Sagan lost ground on the peloton today but was still able to keep his hold on the green sprinters jersey.
“I actually tried to go in the break early today but the group didn’t let me go,” Sagan said. “I think they were scared of me, but it’s impossible to do everything. The climbs didn’t matter for me as the break was a long way ahead at the front. I thought it was better to take it easy. The Tour de France is still very long. We will see day by day, now I’ve got the green jersey I’ll keep trying for it.”
Thomas de Gendt Takes Climber’s Jersey
Thomas De Gendt finished second today and his fantastic performance was rewarded with the prize of the most combative rider. De Gendt was very attentive during the day and he managed to win three KOM sprints on his way to wearing the polka dot jersey on Thursday. Naturally, he’s very happy with his performance.
“It wasn’t clear yet whether I would join the break this morning because I thought it might be wiser to save some strengths for the final week,” De Gendt said. “But it was obvious from the beginning that a few strong riders were willing to be part of the break so I decided to join them. We got a lot of advantage from the peloton because no one was a threat to the GC riders. Van Avermaet was the best placed rider at twenty seconds but the GC riders don’t expect that he will play a role in the mountain stages. The cooperation in the front group was gone after a while so we decided to continue the break with three riders. We weren’t sure whether Grivko would be good or not. Greg and I decided that he mustn’t win today’s stage because he didn’t do his part of the job. Eventually he was dropped on the fourth climb of the day. Van Avermaet accelerated on the penultimate climb and it was clear that he was stronger than me. I’m a bit disappointed of course but I realize that Greg was simply the best today. He really deserved this victory.
“It was clear that the KOM sprints would be today’s goal from the moment that I was part of the break,” he added. “I was able to win three sprints and therefore I may wear the polka dot jersey tomorrow. Wearing that jersey is a big dream. I was never able to wear a jersey in a Grand Tour so I’m really happy. Obtaining the prize of the most combative rider and the polka dot jersey is a nice consolation prize. I’ll try to defend that jersey for at least one day, after that it will depend on how the Tour will evolve. Today’s stage will affect my condition as it was a very hard day. We rode more than 200 kilometres in the front of the race so I’ll need some time to recover. We’ll see if there are any other opportunities later in this Tour de France.”
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