Tour de France stage five live – in the mountains

Having almost fully regained his contact, Jacobsen backed off more than a minute again. It looks like it’s going to be a tough day for the Soudal-QuickStep runner, who is struggling with his injuries from the chaotic finish of stage four.

140 kilometers to go

The pace averages around 48kph in the first 20km and the group splits briefly under the pressure of such a quick start, but although it’s very padded in front there is no apparent movement for more than a few seconds.

Jakobsen and Morkov are just a few meters off the peloton now, so the Dutch sprinter’s mini crisis appears to be over.

The group regains strength in the nine, which includes Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) and Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-EasyPost), and we’re back to square one.

Latour is about to be joined by eight other riders at the front of the pack, but it’s still a very nervous start and it’s not clear if the break will last.

Jacobsen, supported by teammate Michael Murkoff, works his way through the team cars and is about 30 seconds behind the main peloton.

Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and stage two winner Victor Lafay (Cofidis) are trying to make moves, but there are too many ebbs and flows at the front of the peloton.

Fabio Jacobsen (Soudal-QuickStep), one of the crash victims, struggles with the fast pace as several attacks try to outrun it.

On today’s Tour de France roster

Km 0: start – bao

Km 48.8: Sprint – Lanne-en-Barretoux

Km 87.5: climb – Col du Sudt: HC: 15.2 km, 7.2%

124.8 km: climb – Colonel Escher – Cat.3: 4.2 km, 7%.

144.2 km: climb – Colonel de Marie Blanc – Cat. 1: 7.7 kilometers at a rate of 8.6%

Km 162.7: End – Laruns

Skjelmose is back in the pack, according to the official race website.

151 kilometers from launch

After 11 kilometers of racing, Latour has a lead of about 10 seconds amid plenty of other unsuccessful attacks. This is a faster start than the early Stage 4 Snooze Fest.

Crash for Tour de Suisse winner Matthias Schelmos (Trek-Segafredo), who is back on his bike. Former Tour stage winner Dylan Tunes (Israel-Premier Tech) also hits the deck.

Here’s a quick reminder of the current state of GC play, courtesy FirstCycling. We can expect some significant changes with today’s end of play.

This is the official weather forecast for today. Most importantly, there is no potential rain, so the descent is dry. The current temperature is moderate 22.9 degrees Celsius.

Changing to cloudy skies in the afternoon.

There is no danger of rain.

The temperatures are between 19 and 23 degrees Celsius.

Winds from the northwest, averaging 10 km/h with gusts of 25 to 30 km/h.

The first attack of the fifth stage has already begun and we are only three kilometers away: France’s Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) is leading.

Although we got the first 50km flat or so, the mountains would be the biggest protagonist of today’s race. Nelson Paulis (EF Education-EasyPost) is in the lead, 18 points clear of Tadezh Bogar (UAE Team Emirates), but it’s worth bearing in mind that the maximum 32 points is available on today’s three climbs. The biggest gain will be 20 offered on the Col du Soudet, while there are 10 on the Col de Marie Blanque, and 2 on the Col d’Ichère.

The fifth stage of the 2023 Tour de France is now officially underway. There are only 162.7 kilometers left to go.

This is the 66th stage of the Tour from Pau, a town that first appeared on the Route Grande Buckle in 1930.

My colleague Dan Ostanc has written an excellent preview of today’s first High Mountain stage. To read it, link below:

“We’ll attack in the Pyrenees – early in the Tour de France mountains to fuel the GC skirmishes

He confirmed that there are only two non-starters today, Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana Kazakhstan) and Jacobo Guarnieri (Lotto Destiny). So 172 riders remain in the 2023 Tour peloton.

Well, that’s enough for the history of the last round – back to the present. The peloton is just getting underway, a nine-kilometre neutral section before the real race begins.

And here’s a photo of Bogar crossing the finish line at La Runnes in 2020, the fastest of a group of five, and the first Tour stage of his career. (He’s taken on eight more since then.)
Fourth that day was Mikel Landa (Victorious Bahrain) and fifth was Egan Bernal (Eneos Grenadiers) by the way, a result that will boost the morale of these two riders also today.

It has been widely noted that Pogačar was the winner at Laruns three years ago, also on the stage that started in Pau, also with the Col de Marie Blanque as the last climb. The million dollar question is – does history repeat itself today?

This is a shot of Tadezh Pojjar heading towards the start today

Stage 5 has more than 3,600m of vertical climbs, the fifth-highest total in the entire race, so this promises to be a true baptism of mountain fire.

For the rest of the field, after two very hilly stages and then two sprint stages, Stage 5 is a different kettle of fish as the Tour heads into the Pyrenees for what is a very tough early test of climbing form and potentially a key GC battle.

Two confirmed today have not started: Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana Kazakhstan) and Jacobo Guarnieri (Lotto Destiny). Both riders broke their collarbones in crashes at the end of a tumultuous Tuesday, and the Italian also broke a rib.

The staging of Stage 5 is scheduled for 1305 CET and after a long neutral section, the actual race begins at 1325 CET.

Hey, and welcome to Cyclingnews’ live coverage of Stage 5 of the 2023 Tour de France.