You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed The fifth stage from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas offers the second big chance for top sprinters to secure a win in this Tour de France this stage features two fourth-category climbs as it heads into the Auvergne the fifth stage quickly descends out of the mountains The first 50 kilometers are mostly downhill making it a potentially fast race with numerous breakaway attempts the uncategorized but lengthy 12-kilometer climb to the Col de Couz begins offering a chance to escape or drop sprinters if the pace is high enough After climbing the Côte du Cheval Blanc (1.5 kilometers at 4.3 percent) the riders will reach the sprint point in Aoste at kilometer 123.2 passing over the Côte de Lhuis (3 kilometers at 4.8 percent) before reaching the finish in Saint-Vulbas Several sprinters will be seeking redemption after stage three Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) went too early and lost power towards the end a notable crash victim 2.2 kilometers from the finish Stage winner Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) will carry momentum and confidence into the finale Fabio Jakobsen (dsm-firmenich PostNL) also looked strong on stage three after two tough opening days and a resurgent Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) For a Royal Sprint to occur in Saint Vulbas the sprinters’ teams need to control the race and reel in any breakaways This task won’t be as straightforward as it was on stage three Mathieu van der Poel’s Canyon Aeroad CFR: The Bike Behind His Spring Classic Wins Mathieu van der Poels Cyclocross Calendar 2024/2025 Season Review 2024: Great Success of Team Alpecin-Deceuninck France -- Mark Cavendish wrote a new chapter of Tour de France history in what is expected to be his last appearance at cycling's biggest race This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2025 audio and/or video material shall not be published rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use The AP will not be held liable for any delays errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing storms triggered a mudslide on the tracks between Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and the border town of Modane in the Savoie department of southeastern France But our SNCF Réseau teams went all out and had trains back up and running by the end of the month Mudslide between Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and Modane When Météo France issued a storm warning that evening in July, we decided to halt rail traffic as a precaution, to avoid putting passengers in danger. And despite crews working all out to clear the rubble and clean off and repair the tracks, the line between Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and Modane was down for several weeks. SNCF Réseau experts quickly assessed the line to determine exactly what work would be needed for traffic to resume normally. We also set up a replacement service to get ticket-holding customers travelling between France and Italy to their destinations. To minimize inconvenience to our customers, SNCF teams had the tracks in working order ahead of schedule, and rail service resumed on 23 July 2019. This site is in partial compliance 98,53% (with RGAA 4.1 standards) The peloton tackles 177.4km from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas taking the Tour de France out of the Alps Their day of suffering earned them two shots at a sprint victory on stage 5 to the village of Saint-Vulbas on Wednesday and then in Dijon on Thursday It is a fair reward for swapping their sprinting speed to fight gravity The Astana Qazaqstan riders again packed the bottom of the stage result but again carefully paced their effort to ensure that they stayed in the game Directeur sportif Mark Renshaw revealed to Cyclingnews that the team uses AI software to calculate the pace and power they need to ride on the climbs and their well-made plans delivered The time limit for the stage was calculated at 40:48 after Tadej Pogačar crossed the line alone and gained time on Jonas Vingegaard and everyone else Cees Bol and Michael Mørkøv were all part of the last gruppetto to finish at 36:11 Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) was last to finish with Fabio Jakobsen (Dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla) also in the gruppetto Stage 3 winner Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) Sam Bennett (Decathlon-AG2R) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) were all in another gruppetto just two minutes ahead They will surely invert the stage results as the terrain flatters and suits their speed and power and as Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates look for allies in controlling the race and the long ride out of the Alps into the plains and vineyards to the east of Lyon Tour de France 2024 Stage 5 profile(Image credit: ASO)Tour de France 2024 Stage 5 route(Image credit: ASO)Wednesday’s 177.4km fifth stage starts in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in the Savoie department and at the foot of the Col du Télégraphe and the Col du Galibier The valley road leads to Chambéry and then the l’Ain department not far from Geneva and the Swiss border before cutting northwest to finish in Saint-Vulbas The stage includes two categorised climbs and a few others but they are French cotes and not the high Alps The Côte du Cheval Blanc comes after 104.6 km the Côte de l’Huis with 34.6km to go The intermediate sprint comes after 123.2km and so there is unlikely to be a battle amongst the sprinters to go on the attack as Mads Pedersen did on stage 4 The wide country roads of the final 30 kilometres seem ideal for chasing down any breakaways with multiple sprint teams surely ready to do the work The final kilometres are always vital when a sprint is expected The run-in to Saint-Vulbas includes two sweeping right turns on roundabouts inside the final three kilometres with a final slight turn right or kink in the road with 250 metres to go The speed will surely be close to 70 km/h at that point and the finish line comes into view with 250 metres to go The lead-out trains will probably fight for position in the final ten kilometres and especially for the two right turns inside the final three kilometres When the sprinters see the finish barrier it will be a perfect moment to start their sprint Watch Mathieu van der Poel try to lead out Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Philipsen as he did so well in the 2023 Tour They are looking to make up for a disrupted stage 3 sprint when van der Poel punctured with six kilometres to go and Philipsen was caught in the late crash If the Belgian sprinter wants to target a second green points jersey he will need to score significant points in Saint-Vulbas Girmay and Pedersen have shown they are targeting the green jersey and will surely be up front on Wednesday Cavendish is looking for that 35th stage victory Some thought he might even struggle to finish the stage over the Galibier But he is still in the game and still hungry to win Please note that this is an automated translation and it will not be perfect. All articles have been written in English and if anything appears to not make sense, please double check in English. Britain's sprinter Mark Cavendish celebrates after winning a record 35th Tour de France stage win to break the record of Belgian legend Eddy Merckx during during the fifth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 177.4 kilometers (110.2 miles) with start in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and finish in Saint-Vulbas, France, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (Thomas Samson/Pool Photo via AP) SAINT-VULBAS, France (AP) — Mark Cavendish broke Eddy Merckx’s long-standing record for most career Tour de France stage wins with his 35th victory on Wednesday. The 39-year-old Cavendish sprinted for the win in the fifth stage of the Tour, pulling away some 100 meters from the line despite being bunched in. He crossed the line ahead of Jasper Philipsen and then jumped into the arms of a teammate. Two-time champion Tadej Pogacar retained the race leader’s yellow jersey, but the day belonged to Cavendish. He equaled Merckx’s mark of 34 wins during the 2021 Tour and went close to No. 35 in the seventh stage last year when he was narrowly beaten to the line by Philipsen. He then crashed a day later and broke his right collarbone. Merckx, the Belgian considered the most dominant rider in cycling history, won his 34 individual stages at the Tour from 1969-75. Cavendish’s decision to give it one more shot paid off. With his 2023 race ending early, Cavendish decided to put off retirement by a year and came back to try again. Finally, Cavendish made cycling history — 16 years after winning his first Tour stage back in 2008. Other riders were happy for Cavendish, with several stopping to speak with or hug him after the 177.4-kilometer (110-mile) leg from Saint-Jean-De-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling Copyright © 2025 Maui News Publishing Company, LTD | https://www.mauinews.com | 100 Mahalani Street, Wailuku, HI 96793 | 808-242-6363 Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Clare Fallon Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved Be vigilant ! Increase in attempts to impersonate Eiffage and its subsidiaries (use of fake email addresses, fraudulent websites, etc.). More details here. 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Stay on current site or go to US version Britain's Mark Cavendish claimed a record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage win at the Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas stage on Wednesday Coming off the wheel of Fabio Jakobsen to take the lead Cavendish held off Jasper Philipsen to claim the historic victory in the fifth stage of this year's event which stretched for 177.5km The 39-year-old announced his retirement last year after crashing out of the Tour before changing his mind and extending his career for a final season with the Astana Qazaqstan team His first stage win on the Tour de France came in 2008 Mark Cavendish crosses the line at Saint-Vulbas to break Eddy Merckx's long-standing record. Dario Belingheri/Getty ImagesCavendish had been level with cycling legend Eddy Merckx It's my 15th Tour de France and it takes a lot to get there every year," Cavendish "I'm getting old and I've got to get in shape every year and it's hard For a rider who repeatedly said one stage win on the Tour can change your life "Winning one stage can make a career and I've always felt the need to win one more The Manxman is one of Britain's most successful cyclists at multiple-disciplines having twice won the sprinters' green jersey in the Tour de France -- his first in 2011 when he became the first Briton to do so -- along with an Olympic silver medal at Rio 2016 Cavendish was given a knighthood in the King's Birthday Honours earlier in 2024 is considered the most successful sprint cyclist of all time Cavendish's contract runs until the end of 2024 but he is yet to confirm his retirement at the end of the season Slovenian Tadej Pogacar retained the overall leader's yellow jersey in this year's Tour after he just avoided crashing into a central reservation some 57km from the finish with several riders just behind him hitting the deck Cavendish will have the chance to extend his record on Thursday on the 163.5km stage from Macon to Dijon Information from Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report Become a member here We use cookies to improve your browsing experience The second opportunity for the sprinters to go for glory 2024Distance: 177kmStart location: Saint-Jean-de-MaurienneFinish location: Saint-VulbasStart time: 13:20 CETFinish time (approx): 17:16 CET In the sixth century, three fingers said to be from the right hand of John the Baptist — and therefore of the hand that baptised Jesus Christ — were brought from Alexandria in Egypt to the small town in the Maurienne valley where today’s stage of the Tour de France sets off from Although the validity of religious relics like this are always more than a little questionable it continues to make the town (which derives its name of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne from it) a destination of pilgrimage and is housed and worshipped in its 11th century cathedral while also being referenced in the town’s coat of arms An analogy could be made between John the Baptist and whoever is in the yellow jersey at this point of the Tour Just as he was initially heralded by many as the Son of God only to instead by a precursor to Jesus Christ the wearer of the yellow jersey this early into the race could merely be a false prophet before the real champion makes himself known deeper into the second and third week Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne is located at the edge of the Alps and has thus been the host of many key mountain stages of recent Tours — most memorably when Floyd Landis launched his miraculous comeback long-range solo attack to put himself back into contention for the yellow jersey he’d lost the day before a performance literally too good to be true as he was disqualified for registering a positive dope test But today the riders will be headed away from for now — they’ll return here again in two weeks having circled a substantial lap around the rest of the nation where the climactic GC stages will take place the riders will head in a northwesterly direction through the region of Savoy but this is another region with historical ties to the nation; it’s the origin of the House of Savoy which would ultimately hold the Italian crown following the nation’s unification in the 19th century Prior to its move to Turin in 1563 (which was and the château that was the headquarters will surely be the subject of the obligatory helicopter shorts halfway into the stage The recently retired Bouhanni is an example of how big a leap it is even for prolific sprinters to win at this level — although he was good enough to win 70 races in his career Whichever sprinter wins today will be of the highest calibre Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was unable to contest the race’s first sprint on stage three after being involved in a crash with two kilometres to go but his team stated before the following stage that he had recovered well If all is clear in the run-in to the finish line Philipsen and his Alpecin team will want to ensure they secure this stage victory Another rider prevented from being involved in the final sprint to the line due to the crash on stage three was Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) and his teammates On his quest for the record-breaking 35th stage win the Manxman admitted that his team were not in the best of positions to contest the win and stage four looks like another chance for him to make history becoming the first black African rider to win a stage at the Tour de France He sprinted to a superb victory on stage three proving that he is back to his winning form and will be a contender for the remaining sprint stages Completing the podium was Movistar’s Fernando Gaviria and 22-year-old Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) and therefore will be contenders for the expected bunch sprint in Saint-Vulbas Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) has looked in good condition so far just missing out on the podium on stage three and being very active in the opening of stage four He certainly is a rider who packs a punch when it comes to the sprint and has proven he can beat the likes of Philipsen in the bunch sprint Behind him was Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco Alula) who was in good position in the final 100 metres but a moment with De Lie blocked his ability to sprint over the line He'll be hoping for a better end to his race and a clear path to victory After a rocky start in the brutal opening stages Fabio Jakobsen (Team-DSM Ferminch PostNL) managed to secure seventh place in the first sprint He took to Instagram stating that this was his “confidence builder” so hopefully we will see the DSM rider place higher and higher in the sprints Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) all looked strong in the first sprint so will be ones to watch for the stage victory We're backing Jasper Philipsen for the sprint finish He'll be even more determined to prove his sprint dominance once again after missing out on the first chance Rouleur takes a look at the contenders to win the Maglia Rosa in Italy this month Alexander Vinokourov's team are making the impossible rather quite possible All the essential information about the first Grand Tour of the year While the former Olympic and World champion is relishing new ventures in retirement she is keen to ensure more support is in place for those.. From SD Worx-Protime's continued success to Canyon-SRAM's disappointment Rouleur takes a look at how each squad performed at the Spring Classics Enjoy a digital subscription to Rouleur for just £4 per month and get access to our award-winning magazines Join today for exclusive content from independent journalists This site is protected by hCaptcha and the hCaptcha Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Tour de France stage 4: new race leader Tadej Pogačar  Clément Russo and Mattéo Vercher lead stage 5 of the Tour de France Mark Cavendish makes history and takes record 35th stage win into Saint Vulbas Bonjour and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 5 of the 2024 Tour de France After an explosive day in the high mountains on stage 4 with the official start of racing from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne at 13:30 CEST it's a likely sprint stage on the menu after yesterday's big climbing test.  Make sure to read Stephen Farrand's preview of today's sprint stage with another shot at the record 35th stage win being eyed by Mark Cavendish and his Astana Qazaqstan teammates: After suffering over the Galibier, Mark Cavendish and sprint rivals return to fight for victory - Tour de France 2024 stage 5 preview If you somehow missed yesterday's thrilling stage to Valloire here's how the GC currently stands after UAE Team Emirates and Tadej Pogačar's dominant display up the Col du Galibier: Catch up with how Pogačar achieved his stunning solo victory with Barry Ryan's report from stage 4: Tour de France: Tadej Pogačar snares yellow with stage 4 victory in high mountains Riders are at the start and being presented on stage in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne We've also got fresh analysis from expert Philippa York to unpack all the exciting action from yesterday's stunning Galibier stage Read how she broke down Pogačar's assault of the GC climbing field on stage 4 below: Galibier outlined the current hierarchy at the Tour de France - Philippa York analysis For more reaction to the ominous UAE team performance on stage 4 read Dani Ostanek's analysis of a team climbing performance for the ages Juan Ayuso and Nils Politt were among the highlights of a perfect day for the Emirati team: Dylan Groenewegen is back with his new sunglasses at the team presentation after causing some controversy when he debuted them on stage 3 so maybe the UCI has allowed them after all: Dylan Groenewegen's 'beak' sunglasses miss sprint test at Tour de France Here's the profile of today's 177.4km stage with a downhill start making it difficult for a big break to get away The last Cat.4 climb could give the less pure sprinter's teams an opportunity to try and sting the legs of the heavier fast men but it arrives quite far from the finish so shouldn't play too much of a role.  Bahrain-Victorious were having fun on the podium with Wout Poels announcing late arrivals Pello Bilbao and Jack Haig to the crowds in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne Their focus will be all in on Phil Bauhaus today after the big German sprinter only managed sixth in the first flat opportunity in stage 3 ⏰ Where is Pello?? Has anyone seen @PelloBilbao1990 ? ⏰ Où est passé Pello ?? Quelqu'un a vu Pello ?#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/NXHLnQiXt3July 3, 2024 After the crash-marred sprint on stage 3 into Turin there will be multiple teams who didnd't even get the chance to see their sprinter in action Alpecin with Jasper Philipsen and Visma with Wout van Aert It's going to be another day of building tension until the chaos breaks loose in the final run to the line.  Under half an hour until the stage of stage 5 now.  Here's Groenewegen back in the "Batman" shades on stage with Tour de France on stage announcer Marc Chavet More news coming out of Soudal-QuickStep with the confidence growing in the team after Remco Evenepoel's strong performance on stage 5 He's lived up to the billing so far on his Tour debut with a focus now turning to staying safe until the stage 7 time trial where he will go all in racing his favoured discipline Here's what Wout van Aert had to say pre-stage 5 thanks to Visma's social media After a day of struggling in the mountains he's unsure whether he will go for the sprint 🇫🇷 #TDF2024Wout's words before the start. 💬 pic.twitter.com/cPBnZfV4OVJuly 3, 2024 Here's Cavendish ahead of the start where he was met with a great reception again Could today be the day the record 35th stage win finally comes Not only is Pogačar in a full yellow skinsuit as the new leader of the race but UAE's dominant team performance has unsurprisingly landed them the lead of the teams classificaiton - yellow helmets all round for the men in white.  We saw history on stage 3 when Biniam Girmay won the first sprint stage and the first for a Black African at the Tour de France Here's what he had to say before stage 5 to Eurosport: At least we have one stage so some pressure is gone so for me personally we have two sprinters in the team so we can spare the stress we Just keep focused and try to do out best," said the Eritrean "That's a good question," said Girmay when asked if it would be him or Gerben Thijssen going for the stage "I came here to win a stage so I already succeeded in my plan I'm just truing to do my best and if we have more chance to win the stage with Gerben I will give and if I have more chance for the green jersey Riders are gone from the unofficial start and we'll have the neutralised section before racing gets underway from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne - the town which started stage 19 of the 2019 Tour where we saw one of the most dramatic days of racing in recent history The stage itself was stopped because of awful weather and a landslide but more importantly Egan Bernal took yellow and ended the French dream of Julian Alaphilippe winning overall Today is much simpler with a sprint stage on the menu and 177.4km to race Pretty mild conditions at the start of the day which will be welcomed 2km until the race reaches the départ réel Here's Pogačar back in the yellow race leader's jersey after he reclaimed it on stage 4 He'll be off duty just trying to stay safe throughout the fifth stage.  Christian Prudhomme has waved the flag from the lead race car and it's time for the action to begin Without much on offer in the opening phase of the route it's unsure what kind of start we will get the answer to whether anyone would go on the attack has been provided Full status quo in the peloton and it looks like all eyes will be on the latter stages of the route.  All 174 riders who finished stage 4 have started stage 5 which is great news Still only 2 abandons so far at the 2024 Tour de France.  Mark cavendish is back off the bike and in full discussion with his team mechanics at the car A real tinkerer of his position and he's trying to make sure his Willier setup is absolutely perfect to the very millimetre to be as fast as humanly possible.  A look at an incredibly calm peloton on stage 5 of the Tour de France We're far from full gas and actually just at full conversation for now Big headwind in the valley so no on is fancying any sort of move Juan Ayuso and Oier Lazkano have started racing off the front and having all sorts of fun with the latter just bunnyhopping over the island in the middle of the road The two Spanish rider technically have 30 seconds but they are just chatting away and barely pedalling Lazkano has the gold comabitivity race numbers on thanks to his aggressive actions on the Galibier yesterday.  Tim 'El Tractor' Declercq has assumed his position on the front of the peloton with Victor Campenaerts now even faking an attack at the start of stage 5 Proper non serious 'racing' so far if you can even call it that Imagine this will continue for some time.  It is so slow in the peloton that Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) is actually putting on more layers It's been a disappointing Tour for him so far with any sort of GC effort ending yesterday he should switch full focus on winning a second stage to add to his Alpe d'Huez triumph from 2022 Ayuso and Lazkano are back in from their fun off the front Even TotalEnergies have decided to do nothing as their team radio comes in and confirms that there is no point wasting the energy.  we may actually have a big of a change in pace There are small splits forming with Declercq deciding to test the legs and open things up a bit No real pace or commitment in the group but perhaps a willingness to not let the day go on forever.  Here's all four classification leaders after stage 4 of the Tour Remco Evenepoel in white as best young rider Jonas Abrahamsen in the green points jersey and Tadej Pogačar in the maillot jaune The polka-dot jersey and KOM classification is being donned by Valentin Madouas who isn't pictured but he is only wearing it on behalf of Abrahamsen who also leads that contest for the moment Pace is back down to 30kph as the peloton fans out on this wide road We're still heading gradually downhill for a lot of this opening phase with a good chance for a nature break coming now Small change in pace again as the sprint teams begin to put a rider each towards the front so the stage can get started Trek and Intermarché all present.  Some jokes being shown here from World Champion Van der Poel and yellow jersey Pogačar as they both come right to the front to 'pace' Such an odd beginning to a stage but this is what happens after the most brutal start to the Tour in years and with a nailed on sprint stage on the menu.  More groups have rolled slowlly off the front with just a few rouleurs showing their strength in such an easy start Tim Declercq (Lidl-Trek) and Kobe Gossens (Intermarché-Wanty) are among them but it still isn't any sort of committed move.  We had all come back together but suddenly some of the French teams have decided to go racing Groupama-FDJ have two men moving up the road Cofidis and a few other joining them.  Alpeicn-Deceuninck sniffed any sort of a real move and they've closed down the small split Pace is up at 57kph in the peloton now.  It's just Clément Russo who has been let away now after top TT riders Stefan Küng and Stefan Bissegger were originally up with him.  With Groupama-FDJ possibly riding away with the combaitivity prize off the front of the peloton fellow French team TotalEnergies have sent Mattéo Vercher to chase him down so they are represented.  Head of the race: Mattéo Vercher and Clément Russo  The French duo making sure their sponsors are on the TV have been allowed to build a 4:22 gap starts heading west in the direction of Lyon.  Alpecin-Deceuninck and Astana Qazaqstan are the teams leading the peloton with Visma-Lease a Bike and DSM-Firmenich PostNL just behind Just a reminder that the parcours on today's stage is largely downhill and easy until the 110km to go mark when the race hits an uncategorised climb just past Chambery This could be where racing starts to properly speed up he's a look at final few kilometres of today's stage A few late roundabouts will require the best positioning from the sprint teams while a kink in the road with 300m to go makes the right-hand barrier the best place to fully open up your effort Hopefully this won't cause any danger as it did in the opening sprint stage of the 2023 Tour where Philipsen closed-off Van Aert to the barriers Yellow details everywhere for UAE Team Emirates on stage 5 right down to the bottles for race leader Tadej Pogačar A post shared by UAE Team Emirates🇦🇪 (@uae_team_emirates) Status quo for the moment with the peloton keeping the gap to the two in front around the 4:20 mark.  it's important to note that the two leaders Vercher and Russo are both local riders born in Lyon and would've grown up riding these roads We'll be seeing a lot of Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Tim Declercq (Lidl-Trek) today as they are the two domestiques left to hold the gap at the desired level More news from UAE after Juan Ayuso responded to any questions of a spat in the team between him and João Almeida after the latter had to gesture him back to the front on the Galibier yesterday Read what the Spanish rider and DS Andrej Hauptman had to say about it here: 'There are no problems' - Juan Ayuso downplays Almeida's Galibier gesture at Tour de France Here's a look at Wout van Aert before the start of today's stage He looked good on stage 1 and was emotional after returning to the podium of a Tour de France stage on stage 1 after an arduous period of injury recovery in spring Van Aert amazingly hasn't won a Tour stage since stage 20 of the 2022 race when he triumphed in the ITT to Rocamadour We've just seen a near miss for Robbe Ghys (Alpecin-Deceuninck) going over a small bump in the road after almost crashing He managed to hold it up thankfully and has been laughing at himself to the cameras The gap has started to come down to the two leaders Russo and Vercher are onto this section of uncategorised climbing with a 3:30 lead on the chasing peloton.  As we enter into the final 100km of stage 5 here's a look at our two leaders - Clément Russo(Grouapama-FDJ) and Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) Here's two former German national champions sharing a chinwag in the peloton It'll be an easier for Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates) after his great work chasing the break and pacing for Pogačar yesterday while Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) will be looking to contest the bunch sprint.  Russo and Vercher are now navigating a downhill section before closing in on the first categorised climb of the day - the Côte du Cheval Blanc (1.5 km at 4.6%) If Cavendish achieves history today and nets a 35th stage win at the Tour it must be said how every detail of his setup has been optimised to the absolute maximum with Astana not leaving any stone left unturned in their pursuit of the record Read about the micro changes and aero gains he's looked for thanks to our great tech team: Mark Cavendish's £1,000 socks are the tip of the iceberg in his quest for 35th Tour de France stage win Declercq is being told on team radio to not pull the break in too fast Him and Dillier have pulled the two men in front back to a 3:00 lead with 80km to go Pogačar and Roglič debriefing after the hellish mountain battle on yesterday's stage 4 They won't be back fighting for the GC until the stage 7 time trial The rain has started to fall on the two men out in front which could make things all the more sketchier as the pace builds towards the sprint finish Big news on Astana Qazaqstan's future coming out from our team on the ground at the Tour Read all the details of their new investors here: Still Dillier and Declercq leading the peloton who are no 2:44 behind with the two-man breakaway finally reaching the lower slopes of the first categorised climb - the Cat.4 Côte du Cheval Blanc Russo takes the single point on top of the KOM sprint crossing the line alongside Vercher with a 2:30 lead on the slow chasing peloton focus will turn to the intermediate sprint in Aoste (Saint-Didier) Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) is leading the green jersey classification for the moment but with the IS and the final sprint coming he will likely lose it to one of Girmay or Pedersen who started the day four and eight points respectively off his total of 87 Puncture and a change for Ben Healy (EF Educaton-EasyPost) but it won't be much of a problem to get back in for the Irishman.  Both the pace and tension building up now for Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck who lead the peloton It's a big day for the Belgian team after nearly everything went wrong in the opening  sprint on stage 3 Van der Poel had a late puncture so couldn't help in the lead out and fast man Philipsen went down in the crash 2km from the line.  They were the top sprint outfit from the 2023 Tour de France so will be hoping for a return to that dominance on today's stage.  The gap is continuing to come down with Dillier and Declrecq continuing to get through a mountain of work behind Pace and composition of the peloton completely changed now Just as the tension rose and the speeds picked up we've had a small crash at the back of the peloton Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) probably the most important name to hit the deck alongside some from Movistar and Lotto Dstny It was actually yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar who started the domino affect of the crash which rippled through the back of the peloton He nearly went head first into a traffic island in the middle of the road but made a late move to the right of it Those behind him came off worst but there looks to have been no serious injuries from the incident thankfully.  Everyone is back from the crash and we are back to normal as he was avoiding crashing himself due to road furniture that he had no vision of.  Uncontested sprint between the two men in front Big charge from Intermarché for Girmay Here comes the sprint to the line and it's the Dane at the front Close finish between Pedersen and Bennett but it was the Lidl-Trek man who got there in the end A look back at the aftermath of the crash with none of those involved too badly hurt Nelson Oliveira and Sébastien Grignard getting going again Race radio just comes through for Ineos to warn his team to get on the front and focus with the rain starting to fall again Russo and Vercher are previewing some tough incoming corners with differing road surfaces up ahead.  Two-man breakaway is nearing it's end with their lead just going under the one-minute mark now Good effort from Russo and Vercher to get stage 5 going.  UAE and Visma taking over with the nerves upping in the wet conditions Mark Cavendish is also well-positioned with his Astana boys Not even a chance to put on a rain jacket with the rain worsening.  Insane bike-handling skills from Pogačar to keep this one up the peloton is also closing in on the final categorised climb of the day - the Côte du Lhuis - where the purer sprinters could be challenged by the likes of Lidl-Trek and Intermarché-Wanty Here's how the top five of the green jersey points classificaiton stands after the intermediate sprint But this is due to change with 50 points available on the line in Saint Vulbas for the winner and lots for the places behind: Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) - 94 points Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) - 87 points Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) - 60 points Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek are all nicely positioned at the front of the peloton as they close in on both the breakaway and the final climb of the day The two men in front have under 30 seconds of a lead now 22 seconds now to the break and the GC teams are also moving up to the front for this climb with the nerves building They will all want to get through this stressful section safely.  Here's a look at World Champion Mathieu van der Poel on stage 5 After a puncture ruled him out of lead-out duties on stage 3 he'll be keen to get involved today and help Jasper Philpsen take the victory.  Russo and Vercher are onto the climb now but their day in front will end very soon on the inclines Chapeau to both but I'm not sure how the race will decide who gets the combativity prize.  Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Visma-Lease a Bike bookending the peloton for now onto the 5% slopes of this climb No real injection of pace but that is probaby because we are still a long who would have wanted the pace to be slow as it is Nice moment of respect from the local lads as Russo and Vercher fist-bump at the head of the race before being swept up Abrahamsen is moving up as the only rider interested in trying to take the solitary KOM point available at the crest of the final climb today He's moved off the front now without challenge He extends his lead and despite probably losing green today Cavendish has been positioned very well by Astana for now at the head of the race Lots of their blue jerseys are right at the front after getting caught behind the crash on stage 3 while being positioned further back Still far from full gas in the peloton however.  Couple of flat tyres for Nils Politt and Stefan Bissegger They both have lots of time to get back in so better now than near the finish and will be important for bringing leaders home in the finale.  Politt and Bissegger working their way back through the cars to the front of the race after the latter had a near miss with a team car Ballerini leading Astana down this slightly damp descent.  Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility) has clearly been down on this descent but he's got a teammate for company Bad news for the Norwegian team with their veteran sprinter hitting the deck but they can switch focus to the also fast Søren Wærenskjold in the final as he is very quick too Kristoff also looks like he is going to continue thankfully Just moments later as the race gets down from the descent another island in the middle of the road has taken a victim with Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) hitting the deck That was close to being way worse but thankfully it's only single riders going down for now Nervous times in the run to the line today.  Laporte and Kristoff are 26 and 57 seconds down so they may struggle to play a part in the sprint today Laporte is back in and Kristoff's experience and a teammate for help should get back him in within the next few kilometres.  Here's the moment Kristoff thankfully got back up quickly from his crash.  Israel and DSM are the teams at the head of the bunch Kristoff and Laporte are both fully back in and can play a part in today's sprint.  Philipsen for Alpecin and De Lie for Lotto are two riders and teams yet to really hit the front in this final run-in They will want to move up late to save their lead-out trains for the final Bahrain Victorious are now moving well to position Phil Bauhaus After the crash-affected sprint on stage 3 everyone will still fancy their trains to be the best if they can get it right Tension building at the Tour de France.  Astana have been positioned brilliantly but they got split up on stage 3 Is today the day they get it right and Cavendish breaks the record to stand alone on the most Tour stage wins Reminder that in the UCI's new testing period today's period of relief for the GC teams will be at the 4km-mark instead of the 3km-mark Good news for trying to keep racing calm in the finale.  Still lots of roundabouts and road furniture to contend with so lets hope it all stays safe.  Speeds are absolutely rocketing up with exposed roads also offering up a chance at crosswinds and splits before this final.  A look at the furiously accelerating peloton on stage 5 Speeds are flying up and every team wants to be at the front for the next few tough corners as the race navigates some roundabouts Astana have already lost a few positions and need to move up.  Pogačar and Vingegaard are being looked after incredibly to make it to the 4km to go mark safely Yellow jersey in third wheel with the sprint teams all around him.  Astana were moving up well but Lidl-Trek just took over their spot for Pedersen Politt is drilling things on the front to get Pogačar home safely The game is really on here and it is so hectic Wide roads give room to move up but you will need to burn a helper to do so Astana and UAE still in control but Cavendish isn't right at the wheel of his teammates Lotto also moving up nicely for De Lie.  DSM and Alpecin are now showing themselves and hoping for better than the first sprint on stage 3.  Visma have now taken over possibly with double ambitions of keeping Vingegaard safe and letting Van Aert go for the finish.  Here come Jayco AlUla for Dylan Groenewegen He got blocked in on stage 3 but looked very fast It could be his day in the Dutch champion's jersey.  4km mark reached and the GC men should be safe and moving out of the way to let the sprint teams do their thing Lotto and Intermarché have hit the front and are best placed going into the next few vital corners which will decide positioning for the finale.  Cavendish is in a much better spot than stage 3 but does he have the legs for history?  Bahrain now at the front alongside Lotto and De Lie is in great shape to go for a win on debut.  Final few corners being navigated now but remember the road does kink in the final 300m.  So many sprinters need to move up if they want to contest the day Philipsen and Groenewegen out of position for now but here they come.  Flamme rouge done and he we go in the finale of stage 5 Alpecin have done a magic job for Philipsen and Van der Poel is there to lead him out.  Just the finale now to get through and it is so hectic with Uno-X on the front Timing is so important today and no one wants to go too early with 500 metres to go into a headwind.  Here comes Trek but Pedersen isn't on the wheel Cavendish hits the front and it's history at the Tour de France The greatest of all time has the magic 35th stage win Mark Cavendish wins stage 5 of the Tour de France and the record is smashed It was vintage from the Manx Missile who has achieved more wins now than the great Eddy Merckx What a sprint and what a moment for Astana Qazaqstan Hugs all round from the whole peloton with Geraint Thomas and Michael Morkov among those with him now.  waiting for his moment and kicking away from those behind him He had Philipsen on his wheel and in the slipstream the legend of cycling had enough in the tank to bring it home and it's an incredible 35th stage win for the greatest sprinter of all time Cycling at its very best on stage 5 of the Tour de France Cavendish has all his family there in Saint Vulbas for perhaps the biggest and best win yet the greatest fast man the Tour de France and cycling has ever seen on top at the sport's biggest race He's been through the darkest times and each time he's down he seems to rise back up From crying at Gent-Wevelgem in 2020 and pondering retirement to returning in 2021 for four magic wins and a tying of Merckx's record He was down on the ground in 2023 when he broke his collarbone at what was due to be his final Tour but Cavendish has come back again for one final dance and it has all gone right on just the fifth stage of the Tour in 2024 just like the great man has been throughout his whole career.  Here's how an emotional and delighted Michael Mørkøv summed up an incredible day for all of Astana Qazaqstan: unfortunately I ended up behind him in the last two corners so I could not lead him out like I wanted to I saw he was in a good position and it's just incredible In some of the years I haven't been part of all of them but a few of them and I'm really proud of that Here's what the man of the moment Mark Cavendish said after winning stage 5 of the Tour de France: Astana put a big gamble on this year to make sure we're good at the Tour de France It's a big gamble for my boss Alex Vinoukourov and the team," said the Manx Missile We worked exactly how we wanted - how we built the team every detail has been put specifically toward today." "You see what it means - we're not going to be top of the UCI rankings or anything but it shows how big the Tour de France is Then first being bad on the first day of the Tour de France - it normally takes me days to get into it my trainer and everyone around me knows how it is everyone would be a bike rider and my job would be alot harder I don't like to suffer but I know it's just in the head and to push through it We didn't nail it as a team like we wanted to do but the boys improvised and got me there in the best position Summed up perfectly by his Astana team here: 'The GOAT' THE GOAT!!! @MarkCavendish #TDF2024 #AstanaQazaqstanTeam 📷 @SprintCycling pic.twitter.com/kQRWAc2YuWJuly 3, 2024 there was a nasty crash for Mads Pedersen who got out into the barrier as the sprint behind Cavendish swung across the road from right to left Here he is thankfully being helped to the line by Tim Declercq but look out for more updates from Lidl-Trek on social media on his condition.  Make sure to read the full stage report from Barry Ryan alongside our gallery of the day's action and analysis of the finale: Tour de France: Mark Cavendish carves history with all-time record-breaking win on stage 5 And here's Alasdair Fotheringham summing up what was another step in the already cemented legacy of Mark Cavendish as cycling's best-ever sprinter: Mark Cavendish cements legendary status as cycling's most successful sprinter at the Tour de France More reaction from Dani Ostanek in France from Cavendish's close friend Geraint Thomas who was one of the riders who hugged Cavendish past the line in Saint Vulbas after his incredible history-making victory: Geraint Thomas hails 'unbelievable' Mark Cavendish – 'It's great that he's got the Tour de France record' With no change for the GC guys and them all arriving safely into Saint Vulbas here's how the general classification stands going into stage 6 Would it have been a Cav win without the trademark chain drop over the line when he stops dropping the power down?  😱 And by the way, yes, @MarkCavendish claimed his 35th Tour stage win with a broken chain.😱 Et au passage, oui, @MarkCavendish a remporté sa 35ème victoire en cassant sa chaine.#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/JqlDcLwbUHJuly 3, 2024 Here's the top 10 on what was an incredible Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Wanty) Marijn van den Berg (EF Education EasyPost) Take a trip through history to look back at all 35 of Cav's Tour stage wins right from the first on stage 5 of the 2008 race in Châteauroux to today's 35th It's a career that has spanned the eras of so many great riders from sprinting against Oscar Freire and Erik Zabel in the last 2000s to his great rivals Marcel Kittel and Andre Greipel in the 2010s and then to his most recent triumphs in 2021 and 2024 against the new generation's best Jasper Philipsen - Sir Mark Cavendish has been a constant in cycling's modern era Mark Cavendish and his 35 Tour de France stage wins – Gallery More reaction from Cavendish's coach Vasilis Anastopoulos after the pair spent hours and hours in Anastopoulos' native Greece working on their preparation for 'Project 35' throughout 2024 All the work has finally paid off for their magic moment on stage 5: 'He proved everybody wrong again' - Mark Cavendish's coach hails record 35th Tour de France stage win We break down exactly how Mark Cavendish earned his 35th Tour de France stage win from six kilometres to go and into the final 150 metres until he crossed the finish line How Mark Cavendish broke Eddy Merckx's all-time Tour de France stage win record Astana Qazaqstan sprinter sets new mark with 35th stage victory at Tour from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas France (177,4 km) on Wednesday 03 July 2024 The 111th edition of the Tour de France starts on Saturday 29 June and will finish in Nice like the setting of the sun or the rising of the tides The road to his record-breaking 35th victory was altogether more complicated but that only heightened the emotion as the Manxman won stage 5 in Saint Vulbas on Wednesday afternoon as is so often the case in the modern Tour but Cavendish has been imposing his order on situations like this since he was barely out of his teens He delivered a rasping sprint to beat Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility) to the line breaking the record he had shared with Eddy Merckx since 2021 Cavendish surely cannot possess the same turn of pace that carried him to his first Tour win in Châteauroux back in 2008 always been able to read the changing contours of a bunch sprint than anybody and find the most viable route to his goal When Cavendish lost his lead-out man Michael Mørkøv in the run-in he immediately found his bearings by attaching himself to Philipsen’s rear wheel As the peloton hurtled into the finishing straight he understood that the sands of the sprint were shifting and he dived onto Pascal Ackermann’s wheel before striking out with a little over 100 metres to go Cavendish’s initial acceleration carried him a length clear claiming a clear victory over Philipsen and Kristoff his 35th on cycling’s grandest stage The Manxman had already equalled Merckx’s record on the 2021 Tour when he snared four wins after earning a late call-up to QuickStep’s squad He missed the chance to claim the record for himself when he was beaten on the Champs-Élysées and it looked like the opportunity had passed him by altogether when he was omitted from the team’s selection for 2021 Cavendish found a home at Astana and came agonisingly close to that elusive 35th win in what he had announced would be his final Tour but despite victories on the Tour Colombia and the Tour of Hungary earlier this year it was far from a given that he would add to his Tour tally Cavendish’s prospects looked slenderer still when he suffered with heatstroke on the demanding opening stage of this race is never more dangerous than when the odds seem to be stacked against him one has been very ill advised to write off Cavendish “I’m a little bit in disbelief,” Cavendish said “Astana have put a big gamble on this year to make sure we’re good on the Tour de France We gambled coming in trying to win at least one stage and that’s a big gamble for my boss It shows that an ex-bike rider knows what the Tour de France is Cavendish’s flash interview was interrupted by an embrace from Vinokourov whose Astana team has struggled to score UCI points over the past two seasons it doesn’t mean we’re going to be top of the UCI rankings or anything you know how much Vino owes this race.” Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) retains the yellow jersey after finishing safely in the peloton though the Slovenian narrowly avoided coming down in a crash at a traffic island with a little under 60km to go Pogačar remains 45 seconds clear of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) in the overall standings with Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) still third at 50 seconds who downplayed his travails on the opening stage in Italy.  but I know it’s all in the head,” he said adding that his sprint had been an off-the-cuff effort amid a very complicated finale “We didn’t nail it as a team like we wanted to do but the boys improvised and got me there in the best position When you’re not physically as good as everybody else it’s definitely beneficial to use your head a bit.” After the remorseless intensity of Tuesday’s short stage over the Col du Galibier there was a decidedly more relaxed feel to stage 5 from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne which was also destined from the outset to end in a bunch sprint the peloton was glad to call a temporary truce in the opening phase of stage 5 there was no immediate response from the bunch which was content to able along at a relatively sedate pace through the opening kilometres Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) ghosted off the front in the company of compatriot Oier Lazkano (Movistar) while the peloton ambled along behind them A break worthy of the name eventually took shape 30km or so into the stage when Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ) clipped away with Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) bridging across to keep him company shortly afterwards The sprinters’ teams were all content with that scenario The French duo would stretch their buffer out towards the five-minute mark after the time the race had passed through Chambery by which point a coalition of sprinters’ teams had already set about gently whittling away at their advantage Russo led the over the category 4 Côte du Cheval Blanc and he also led through the intermediate sprint at Aoste where Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) continued his green jersey campaign by beating Sam Bennett (Decathlon-AG2R) Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Philipsen to third place the break’s lead was down to just a minute with the pace – and tension – in the peloton rising steadily Pogačar narrowly avoided coming down in a crash as the peloton navigated a traffic island Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) was among the fallers there but mercifully the Basque quickly rejoined the fray The general nervousness of the situation was exacerbated still further by the rain that began to cascade gently over the peloton in the final hour of racing with the GC teams massing towards the front ahead of the Côte de Lhuis King of the mountains Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) led the bunch over the summit His team’s hopes of stage victory seemed to compromised over the other side with Kristoff coming down in a crash with 27km remaining but the Norwegian battled back to claim a fine third place on the day The combination of wet roads and repeated road furniture sparked another crash shortly afterwards with Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) tumbling at low speed and as he chased back on before the high-speed run-in Arnaud De Lie’s Lotto-Dstny squad took control of affairs in the finale but no one team was going to be able to dictate the terms of a sprint like this Uno-X and DSM later took up the reins in the final kilometre but the expected lead-out masterclass from Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) never materialised with the World Champion getting squeezed against the right-hand barriers Cavendish had been tracking Philipsen’s rear wheel to that point but he quickly realised that he would have to travel a different road to victory here Results powered by FirstCycling Flat 177.4 km route from Saint Jean De Maurienne to Saint Vulbas offers sprinters opportunity Mark Cavendish targeting record-breaking 35th Tour stage win Tadej Pogacar leads overall General Classification after stage four victory Remco Evenepoel 45 seconds behind; defending Champion Jonas Vingegaard five seconds further adrift in third That was Mark Cavendish's 165th career victory The Briton had feared his career was drawing to a close and battles with illness injuries and depression contributed to him not winning once during 2019 and 2020 But he returned to the Belgian Quick Step team in 2021 to win four stages at that year's Tour Left out of the 2022 Tour and seemingly out of contract at the end of that year he joined Kazakhstan's Astana at the last minute for 2023 With his race abruptly ended after he sustained a broken collarbone in a crash when on the verge of history last year the Manx Missile decided he could not allow his career to end there Cavendish achieved the record-breaking moment that has long felt his destiny Was it every really in doubt that he would Read more here. 2113Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing'He was the old Cavendish'published at 17:10 British Summer Time 3 July 202417:10 BST 3 July 2024Image source Getty ImagesAn emotional Vasilis Anastopoulos who is head of performance at Mark Cavendish's Astana Qazaqstan team: "You know it has been so many months of hard training with so many setbacks We spent three months in Greece from 2 April every day believing and every day training We went to Turkey and it was like he was done he's not going to sprint but we kept believing We brought him back to Greece and had some really good sessions and were optimistic but on the first day he had heat stroke so we thought we had done something wrong but he did it again We made a calculation on what pace to follow 2844Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingPostpublished at 16:51 British Summer Time 3 July 202416:51 BST 3 July 2024It is history for Mark Cavendish a record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage win Head over here to read the developing breaking story. 6246Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing'I'm in disbelief'published at 16:50 British Summer Time 3 July 202416:50 BST 3 July 2024Here is the man himself "We just wanted to get the run-in to do it "It was a big gamble for my boss and the team "Every little detail has been put towards specifically today "The Tour de France is bigger than cycling." And here is Geraint Thomas speaking about his former teammate and pal Cavendish: "It’s unbelievable I am super happy for him "To continue to do what he does at his age…at 39…everyone says you get slower when you get older but he has proved them wrong He always suffers and has a bad day in the mountains but I knew he could get it with a good team around him and he just has to be there and see the finish line and he always has a shout for the win "It is great he has the record alone and is not sharing it with anyone I said 'mate if you win this stage just drop your bike and walk away' but 'he was like I'll want to win more,' so he’s definitely going to hang around isn’t he." 7869Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingCavendish makes Tour de France historypublished at 16:43 British Summer Time 3 July 202416:43 BST 3 July 2024This is what he has been working towards The outright record for Tour de France stage wins belongs to Mark Cavendish 155218Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingPostpublished at 16:41 British Summer Time 3 July 202416:41 BST 3 July 2024HISTORY FOR MARK CAVENDISH The Manx Missile darted from wheel to wheel but then when he found the gap He raises his arms as he crosses the line before being embraced by his team-mates 339026Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingPostpublished at 16:39 British Summer Time 3 July 202416:39 BST 3 July 2024BreakingMARK CAVENDISH HAS DONE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 738541Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingPostpublished at 1km to go1km to goInto the final kilometre 4046Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingPostpublished at 2km to go2km to goIt's fast and furious as the sprint teams fight for position before this final burst to the line 27216Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingPostpublished at 3km to go3km to goMark Cavendish is nicely positioned in the top 10 5469Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingPostpublished at 4km to go4km to goFour kilometres left and the General Classification teams will now ease off having brought their main riders into the safe zone It is over to the sprint teams to try and complete the job 1193Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingPostpublished at 5km to go5km to goThe kilometres are quickly going by now and Mark Cavendish gets himself back in touch with the rest of his team at the front of the race after the peloton is reshuffled by the road layout 1958Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingPostpublished at 8km to go8km to goThe riders enter the final 10km With all the big players still in contention this is set to be some finish in Saint Vulbas Mark Cavendish's Astana Qazaqstan have the right side of the road as they seek to hold position at the front 2146Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingPostpublished at 11km to go11km to goTadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates are still prominent at the front of the peloton as they look to deliver their main man safely to the finish It really could have all gone so wrong for him today but for some remarkable last-minute reactions to avoid some street furniture 729Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingPostpublished at 14km to go14km to goRiders are beginning to look around 19011Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingPostpublished at 17km to go17km to goThings will soon start to get very serious out there A couple of UAE Team Emirates riders are smiling and joking near the front of the peloton as they close in on completing their task of delivering Tadej Pogacar safely to today's finish these are tense moments as the pace rises to 60km an hour and the finish line is fast approaching 534Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingPostpublished at 20km to go20km to goWith their points today Mads Pedersen and Biniam Girmay are now tied on 94 points in the green jersey competition is now five points clear of Tadej Pogacar in the King of the Mountains competition with the point he took on Cote de Lhuis 304Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingPostpublished at 24km to go24km to goAnother crash And this time it's another traffic island - after Tadej Pogacar came so close to hitting one earlier in the day Christophe Laporte has taken a bit of a knock there but he's back on his bike and is another now playing catch-up 2223Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingPostpublished at 26km to go26km to goAlexander Kristoff of Uno-X Mobility hits the deck on the slippery roads The pace is gradually increasing at the front of the peloton and the stress levels are only going to increase from here as we enter the final 25km Mark Cavendish has done it–he won Stage 5 of the 2024 Tour de France and has made history The first full day in France brought the second bunch sprint of the 111th Tour de France with Mark Cavendish powering to the win Tadej Pogačar had a sketchy moment when he had to avoid a sign marking a traffic island With the win Cav has broke the record of 34 that he shared with Eddy Merckx an incredible moment for cycling after the British rider un-retired to come back for one last season Derek Gee remains top Canuck on GC at 21st The first 50 kilometres were downhill and only two Cat 4 climbs (and an uncategorized climb) dotted the landscape over 177.4 km Back on the flat for stage 5 of the #TDF2024, from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas. pic.twitter.com/EjCYNalyDT — Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) July 3, 2024 There was a handful of attempts to breakaway but in the end there was only the French duo of Clément Russo and Matteo Vércher up the road The intrepid twosome tickled the 5:00 gap mark After two hours the average speed was 39 km/h Mark Cavendish truly won at the Tour de France today He’s better at the fadeaway jump shot pic.twitter.com/q6sTJJsHDh — Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ (@GroupamaFDJ) July 3, 2024 and the pace quickened in anticipation of the day’s intermediate sprint Pogačar’s attempt to avoid a traffic island caused a crash Mads Pedersen took the third-most green jersey points Pedersen and Biniam Girmay were equal on points on the top of the classification; Jonas Abrahamsen lost the green jersey but he could console himself with his other Abrahamsen gobbled up the single KOM left on the course Alexander Kristoff crashed and it seemed he wouldn’t be mixing it up in Wednesday’s sprint With the average speed up to a blistering 42 km/h Lotto-Dstny and Astana pulled the field towards Saint Vulbas There was a tight right-hand bend with 2.4 km to go and another 400 metres later The Astana team took control in the last kilometre after some intense fights for the leadout. With 200 m to go, Cavendish went and took an incredible win After the race he was swarmed by teammates and friends who congratulated him The Manx Missile wins a record-breaking 35th stage of the Tour de France The tears are flowing 🥹@LeTour | @MarkCavendish | #TDF2024pic.twitter.com/8vqnpaQfAv — Team GB (@TeamGB) July 3, 2024 Get the digital edition of Canadian Cycling Magazine Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page 'That's a nightmare' - Traeen suffers another crash as riders dodge his bike You can read this article in 4 minutesPölös Zsófia The 2024 Tour de France will take place from 29 June to 21 July causing significant travel disruption in several regions of France and Italy you’ll find out when and where to expect road closures due to the race with numerous stages passing through French territories Here are the key road closures and restrictions for hauliers to note during the event Pölös Zsófia Journalist Trans.info | 5.05.2025 Agnieszka Kulikowska - Wielgus Journalist Trans.info | 5.05.2025 Sabina Koll Journalist Trans.info | 5.05.2025 GXO to manage Northern Italy transport operations for PRG retail groupPölös Zsófia Journalist Trans.info | 5.05.2025 Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan) sprinted to victory in Stage 5 of the Tour de France to set a new all-time record for stage wins at the race with 35 in a historic day for cycling.SAINT VULBAS FRANCE - JULY 03: Mark Cavendish of The United Kingdom and Astana Qazaqstan Team celebrates at finish line as stage winner ahead of (L-R) Jasper Philipsen of Belgium and Team Alpecin - Deceuninck Arnaud De Lie of Belgium and Team Lotto Dstny and Alexander Kristoff of Norway and Team Uno-X Mobility during the 111th Tour de France 2024 Stage 5 a 177.4km stage from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint Vulbas / #UCIWT / on July 03 (Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images) Source: Getty / Dario Belingheri/Getty Images Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España.Get the latest with our sport podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.Watch on SBS SportSport News The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne «On October 7, 2016, the Department of European Paintings will open a magnificent exhibition—the first ever to be devoted to Valentin de Boulogne (1591–1632) one of the most original followers of Caravaggio and his unique voice continues to speak to us now I first encountered his paintings in the Louvre in 1967 This is an exhibition I have wanted to do for years.» Who would have thought that to put together the exhibition I would be in what is beginning to feel like perpetual movement: hunting down his rare paintings and with my French collaborator (the exhibition will also travel to the Louvre) making trips across both the United States and Europe The latest destination was to the little town of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne There in the beautiful sacristy of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist is a marvelous painting by Valentin showing Saint John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness and I have to say that the trip—three hours on the train from Paris followed by an hour drive—was really worth it Valentin's Saint John the Baptist during close inspection in the cathedral sacristy Valentin took as his point of departure a celebrated picture by Caravaggio but Valentin instead makes the figure address us The artist constantly sought new ways to bring viewers into his picture by activating the space between painting and observer he moved beyond Caravaggio's art—which is exactly why the exhibition will be titled Valentin de Boulogne: Beyond Caravaggio Andy Schleck takes lead in Tour de FranceThe Luxembourg rider and Alberto Contador turn Tour into two-man raceAssociated PressSAINT-JEAN-DE-MAURIENNE France - Andy Schleck of Luxembourg captured the overall lead at the Tour de France at the end of a mountainous ninth stage won by French rider Sandy Casar on Tuesday Schleck took the yellow jersey from Australia's Cadel Evans two seconds behind Casar and alongside two-time Tour winner Alberto Contador Evans lost more than eight minutes on Schleck and Contador Team physician Max Testa said Evans was riding with a "small but very painful" fracture on his elbow after crashing in the eighth stage on Sunday Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong fared relatively well as many other riders dropped away from the title contenders on the Madeleine - one of the toughest climbs in cycling but he lost time in the overall title chase Casar led a sprint among seven breakaway riders at the finish of the 127-mile trek from Morzine to Saint-Jean-La-Maurienne - the second and final day in the Alps containing three tough climbs The Francaise des Jeux rider collected his third career stage win at the Tour blazing ahead of Luis-Leon Sanchez in second and Damiano Cunego in third - all three riders clocking 5 hours "It's pure happiness," the 31-year-old Casar said Contador and Schleck set the stage for a two-man fight for the title Schleck leads his Spanish rival by 41 seconds and Spain's Samuel Sanchez - who finished 8th 52 seconds back - moved to third and trails the leader by 2:45 Schleck and Contador engaged in a dramatic duel about midway through the punishing climb with the Luxembourg rider attacking on several occasions - but he failed to shake the Spaniard Sprinter Mark Cavendish crosses the finish line to win a record 35th Tour de France stage win to break the record of Belgian legend Eddy Merckx in the fifth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 177.4 kilometers with start in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and finish in Saint-Vulbas Mark Cavendish has won a record-breaking 35th career Tour de France stage win with victory on stage five in Saint-Vulbas Three years after matching Eddy Merckx on 34 during the 2021 Tour Cavendish moved clear of the Belgian to stand alone in Tour history Cavendish came off the wheel of Fabio Jakobsen in the finale and had the power to hold off Jasper Philipsen The 39-year-old postponed his planned retirement after crashing out of last year’s Tour with his Astana-Qazaqstan team going all-in on ‘Project 35’ ahead of this year’s race His victory comes just four days after Cavendish struggled mightily in the heat of a punishing opening stage out of Florence and two days after he missed the opportunity to contest stage three after being caught behind a late crash in Turin We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity Cavendish’s four stage wins in 2021 counted as one of sport’s great comeback stories his first victories at the Tour in five years after a period of time marked by illness and injury which contributed to a diagnosis of depression only signing a last-minute deal with Astana-Qazaqstan ahead of the 2023 season after the collapse of another move then seeing last year’s Tour end abruptly on stage eight Cavendish’s Astana-Qazaqstan bossed the front of the peloton for much of the final 30km of the 177km stage from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne but in the finale the Manxman used his years of experience of surf the wheels before powering clear of his rivals He left behind his lead-out man Michael Morkov and moved behind Philipsen and then Jakobsen before spying space on the left-hand side of the road and bursting clear Cavendish’s wife Peta and their children were waiting at the team bus and joined in exuberant celebrations Valloire finish on stage four strongly suggests an appointment with the Galibier The Col du Galibier has long been rumoured to be making an appearance in the race and what amounts to an unofficial confirmation of the Valloire finish – which lies in the valley between the cols du Télégraphe and Galibier – only goes to strengthen this More credible pointers suggest start town of this stage will be Pinerolo in Italy – which would place the Galibier directly between the riders and the finish which suggest the finish could be in Saint-Vulbas or Ambérieu-en-Bugey near Lyon which will take in white gravel road sections with last year's Tour de France Femmes also using gravel roads in the area In terms of stages that have been officially confirmed which crosses Italy from Florence to Rimini Stage two begins in nearby Cesanatico and heads north-west to Bologna over 200km and is peppered with small hills is long at 225km and one for the sprinters Stage 20 is a tough day out over several medium-sized passes finishing at the top of the Col de Couillole in the Alpes-Maritimes while the final stage maintains the jeopardy – unlike the traditional Champs-Elysées outing with a hilly 35km time trial that finishes in Nice.  The relatively early finish – 21 July – and indeed its Nice location allows for a moment of breathing space before the Paris Olympic Games begins on the Friday Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1 *Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1 James ShrubsallAfter cutting his teeth on local and national newspapers James began at Cycling Weekly as a sub-editor in 2000 when the current office was literally all fields in 2016 he switched to the job of full-time writer James's racing days (and most of his fitness) are now behind him both on the road and on the gravelly stuff The sprinters in the peloton will have marked this day as another opportunity The two fourth-category mountains will hardly stop the sprinters’ teams from preparing a fast finale as there are still 30 kilometers to the finish from the Cote de Lhuis The approach to the finish is once again straightforward Wide roads lead into the town and the last 2,000 meters are mostly straight ahead the 6.5 meter wide finishing straight makes a slight bend to the right The home straight climbs slightly: there is a four-meter difference in altitude between the devil’s lobes and the finish line >> More TOUR Tech Briefings the matter is clear: an aero bike is still the measure of all things today There are also new additions to the peloton rather extremely shaped aero bike has appeared from van Rysel The 7.2 kg van Rysel RCR Pro was measured by TOUR at 207 watts which is at least two watts faster than the hyped Specialized Tarmac SL 8 supplier of the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team has not missed the opportunity to put an apparently even faster bike on its wheels which will certainly be used on the fifth stage 23456We don’t have any measurements of the bike but we can assume that it will be even faster otherwise why would the team pursue a two-bike strategy The benchmark for super aero bikes in the TOUR test is 200 watts only the Simplon Pride II has fallen below this (199 W) this bike is not at the start of the Tour de France We are curious to see whether the still nameless Aero van-Rysel will be able to break into these regions In contrast to Decathlon, Trek is now pursuing a one-bike-fits-all strategy like Specialized. The Americans have lightened the new Madone and reduced the aero tube shapes; the Trek Emonda lightweight bike has been dropped, at least in the carbon version Canyon snatched first place and secured the tiny margin of two thousandths of a second over the Cervelo S5 whose weight we adjusted downwards after weighing it ready to race at 7.6 kg in the paddock (Christophe Laporte’s bike Canyon’s mathematical lead has thus become smaller Especially when several tiny details come together We predict a final speed of just over 70 km/h in the short sprint Foto: Robert Kühnen*) The calculations are based on the bikes tested by TOUR in the laboratory and wind tunnel. The bikes at the Tour de France may differ in some details. Of course, we have also not yet been able to examine last-minute prototypes. Background to the simulation Aero rules: The mathematical ranking almost mirrors the aero ranking Since acceleration also plays a role in the last few meters weight is not completely out of the question in the sprint the sprinter’s bike should therefore be as light as possible The importance of aerodynamics has been confirmed by the course of the Tour so far The breakaway victories on the first two stages were won with aero material The fact that Romain Bardet and his team-mate were able to successfully fend off the peloton on the first stage and take the yellow jersey for one day was also due to the fact that he had a fast bike at his disposal with the Scott Foil RC (206 W) fought the decisive battle downhill and finally even flat with a headwind Further aero anomalies of the first days: Jonas Vingegaard preferred the fast S5 to the lighter R5 He was able to exploit this advantage on the second stage in the “pair time trial” with Tadej Pogacar Biniam Girmay from Intermarche-Wanty on the Cube Litening AeroC:68X was able to beat Mads Pedersen on the new Trek Madone Girmay’s timing was certainly more important than his aero bike every little helps to increase your chances of winning Our prediction is therefore: aero bikes will not completely merge with lightweight bikes Foto: Robert KühnenRobert Kühnen studied mechanical engineering writes for TOUR about technology and training topics and develops testing methods Robert has been refining the simulation calculations for years Test und mehr ist Teil der Delius Klasing Verlag GmbH Rumours of motors have been constant over the past five years but there have been no sightings to date, and, as is par for the course when inspections are carried out, there was not a cog nor a battery hidden anywhere in Froome’s machine, nor that of the stage winner Romain Bardet, nor the points leader Peter Sagan. Read moreIt would therefore be inappropriate to say Froome is motoring to victory on Sunday but there was a collective air of resignation about his rivals as the race entered the mountains of Savoy There remain five massive mountains to climb before Saturday afternoon’s finish at l’Alpe d’Huez, at which point Froome can truly consider his second Tour in the bag, but on the evidence of the Col du Glandon, the first of the six massive climbs which pepper these three stages, Sky have the race under their thumb. Thomas has been one key to their dominance as he has barely faltered at Froome’s side in the highest mountains. If he maintains his current form, his dissuasive presence will continue to work on the minds of Quintana, Valverde et al, and if the latter fades as he did last year, the Welshman could be pushing for a place on the podium by Saturday. Read moreIt was Thomas who upped the pace at the key moment close to the top of the Glandon will be covered three times in three days due to the diversion of Saturday’s stage because of a landslide The crowds were understandably immense – they have only to park their camper vans for a three-day viewing fest – and there was potential drama to witness Contador finally made a clean break 7km from the top gaining almost a minute before Nibali and Quintana probed in their turn closer to the top so we didn’t have to react straight away.” Froome added: “Two years ago at this point I was hanging on this time I feel in control of the situation; I’ve got two wheels to look out for – Quintana and Valverde.” He spoke with the tone of a man who feels the job is almost done Thomas’s steady riding brought all three within reach by the summit and that was that in the battle for the overall standings is one of the up-and-coming generation of French cyclists and he has been out to reassert himself since his poor performance at La Pierre-Saint-Martin cost him the chance of repeating his sixth place overall in last year’s Tour he has been a regular figure in breakaways this time Riders team cars and press motorcycles climb the Lacets de Montvernier during the stage Photograph: Laurent Cipriani/APHe was outwitted at Mende by MTN-Qhubeka’s Steve Cummings but showed admirable ruthlessness atop the Glandon As he raced clear of the leaders – the remnants of a mini-peloton of 29 which raced ahead as the field left the start – the Dane Jakob Fuglsang collided with a race motorbike but Bardet’s view was “there were two Europcar riders” – Rolland and his team-mate Cyril Gautier – “I had to isolate them but I have to go now.” For all the talk of gentlemanly mores the peloton largely lives by the pirate’s code cited by Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow: those who fall behind get left behind where he is now level on points with Spain’s Joaquim Rodríguez who leads on countback The polka-dot jersey could well be decided on Friday’s contorted loop which takes 138km to travel what should be 20km as the crow flies it repeats some of Thursday’s terrain – Montvernier the Glandon – but in the opposite direction to make up the toughest of the four Alpine stages Over this terrain there could indeed be a massive bouleversement in the standings but it will need Sky to crumble and Contador and Quintana to wake up with fresh legs and aggressive mind The key factor for Sky will probably be how rapidly the stage-winning escape develops whether the other teams want to control it and how many of Froome’s domestiques remain at his side if the racing is intense in the early kilometres  JPEG close to 200 professional cyclists converge on France for the most prestigious and grueling bike race in the world: the Tour de France The three-week stage race traverses France with excursions into neighboring countries scaling peaks in both the Pyrenees in the south and the Alps in the east The race always finishes in front of hundreds of thousands of fans along the Champs-Élysées This image from the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus sensor on NASA’s Landsat satellite shows the terrain of the 17th stage of the race—the final day in the mountainous terrain of the Alps Deep green forests line the lower slopes of mountains while the summits of many of the peaks appear lighter green because they are beyond the elevation where trees can grow Some of the summits are capped by glaciers The rugged terrain is carved by gray ribbons of rivers and creeks Stage 17 starts in the town of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne (lower left) and finishes in Morzine (upper right); the day’s ride is 200.5 kilometers (124.6 miles) The race organizers categorize the mountains on a scale of 1 to 4 (harder to easier) with a special “beyond category” (hors catégorie in French) for the absolute toughest mountain climbs roughly following the route of the Arc River riders climb four steep passes more than 1,400 meters in altitude (1 meter is about 3.3 feet) reaches 1,700 meters over 11.7 kilometers of road with an average gradient of 8.7 percent Morzine forms a gray spot against the green landscape of France’s Savoie and Haut-Savoie regions is the grey region on the shores of Lake Geneva in the upper left corner of the image This image was captured by Landsat on July 21 NASA image by Robert Simmon, based on data provided by the Landsat science team and the UMD Global Land Cover Facility 23 July 2015 102nd Tour de France Stage 18 : Gap - Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne YATES Simon (GBR) Orica - GreenEDGE Photo : Yuzuru SUNADA 22-year-old British rider Simon Yates has suffered from bronchitis during the 2015 Tour de France but says that he's still made a massive improvement over his debut in 2014 The 22-year-old Briton in team Orica-GreenEdge has survived bronchitis and a round of antibiotics and is starting to feel like himself again with two more big mountain days to come "Massive," he told Cycling Weekly when asked if he could see an improvement from when he made his debut in 2014 "I've come a long way considering what has happened in this Tour.” I reckon I wouldn't have been able to make the breaks on these sorts of days." The sun's rays warmed the Alpine town of Saint Jean de Maurienne yesterday It’s been ping-pong in the escapes: one day Adam Yates The affects of bronchitis and antibiotics slowed him but he was forced to take antibiotics starting four days ago I could only go 75 per cent," Simon said outside the bus while other team-mates like Svein Tuft arrived and patted him on the back before climbing on board Though he lost opportunities to win stages After success in the Under 23 ranks and in their first year as professionals with Orica in 2014 some are writing that the twins could follow in Chris Froome's footsteps "I'm no where near ready for the GC," Yates said "I still have a long way to go, three years maybe, until we target that. Maybe we won't even start with the Tour, the hardest one, maybe you can test yourself in the Vuelta a España Gregor BrownSocial Links NavigationGregor Brown is an experienced cycling journalist He has covered races all over the world for over a decade - following the Giro His love of cycling began with freestyle and BMX before the 1998 Tour de France led him to a deep appreciation of the road racing season.  The most beautiful stage of the 2015 Tour de France will be an unmissable spectacle The Tour de France isn’t just a bike race It’s a three-week-long commercial break and the product it is advertising is France itself While the Velon company pushes on-bike cameras as part of the future of cycling broadcasting and super slow-motion cameras capture scrawny arms vibrating at 2,000 frames per second it’s the panoramic landscape shots from the television helicopter which are the producers’ favourite And today will have the single defining panoramic landscape shot of the whole Tour: the climb of Lacets de Montvernier Lacets de Montvernier is where road engineering meets calligraphy – a perfectly-formed curving line of symmetrical switchbacks on a steep-sided valley (the direct translation of ‘lacet’ is ‘shoelace’) the television shots will be as memorable as the race itself The first half is a constant barrage of second and third-category climbs Don’t be fooled by the relatively shallow average gradient of 5.1 per cent – this includes two significant descents one about halfway up and the other not far from the top and the average gradient ramps up to 7.4 per cent It’s the only Alpine stage without a summit finish and it’s likely to offer two races – one for the escape and one for the GC riders "This is a very difficult and complicated stage and the riders have been going for practically three weeks and lots of the contenders will have lost team-mates Richard Virenque and Festina put one minute into Jan Ullrich going down here they should be able to hold that lead to the finish It’s a good day to be a good climber and a good descender." 0km Start Gap 12:106.5km Cat 2 climb Col Bayard 12:3635.5km Cat 3 climb Rampe du Motty 13:1660.5km Cat 3 climb Côte de la Mure 13:5370.5km Cat 3 climb Col de Malissol 14:0985km Cat 2 climb Col de la Morte 14:32107.5km Sprint Rioupéroux 15:00147km HC climb Col du Glandon 16:27176.5km Cat 2 climb Lacets de Montvernier 17:08186.5km Finish St Jean de Maurienne 17:20 Romain Bardet on his way to winning stage eighteen of the 2015 Tour de France Having felt angry after slipping out of the Tour de France top 10 and missing out on a stage win Romain Bardet channelled his energy into winning stage 18 - and did so with style He had gone into the race hoping for a top five finish where Froome won the stage and built on his race lead Bardet suffered in the heat and lost more to Froome and other overall contenders and Bardet did it with style going solo down the Col du Glandon and up the Lacets de Montvernier >>> Five talking points from stage 18 of the Tour de France "It's big," said the 24-year-old in the brown and white colours of French team Ag2r La Mondiale he bombed downhill solo and continued up the final climb he had the last 10 kilometres to Saint Jean de Maurienne to soak in the moment we made a tactical mistake in Mende," he added Being angry probably helped me win today." Bardet placed sixth overall in the 2014 Tour behind winner Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) Frenchmen Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) placed second and third Much was made of Bardet coming into the 2015 edition or at least place in the top 10 when the race pulls into Paris on July 26 but said that stage wins will do for this 2015 Tour “I'm surprised to be in the top 10 now I'm afraid that tomorrow will be a hard day,” Bardet said but I'd like to come back and race for GC again.”  Video: Tour de France 2015 stage 18 highlights And the crash effectively ended Armstrong's chances of winning the Tour de France for an eighth time or of managing one last visit to the podium That crash and the 50 torrid kilometres that followed it could mark a turning point in Armstrong's relationship with the French cycling public When Armstrong announced his comeback in 2008 His return to cycling was not merely about publicising his cancer work; he didn't need to pin a number on his back to do that There was a sense across cycling that he wanted to ensure that when he retired a second time he would leave people with sentiments that were rather different: "how our sport misses him" rather than "what a relief he's gone" "Return of cycling's greatest comeback man" has not gone to script Last year Armstrong earned few friends as the saga with Alberto Contador unfolded amid a welter of catty Twitter messages This year Floyd Landis's email barrage and the ensuing federal inquiry have thickened the plot again if Armstrong plays his cards right in the next few days he could leave the sport as he would wish to The Texan has crashed more times this year than in all his seven victorious Tours put together He has lost oodles of time (a technical term) his legs now rotate at the speed of a windmill rather than an electric whisk Let's not say it too loud but he looks old On Tuesday's second Alpine stage he was well back from the leaders Human is what the French public has always liked For over 40 years, the French have had a tendency to prefer unlucky cyclists with a human side to efficient winners who sweep all before them. That dates back to the days of Raymond Poulidor, still the most popular figure on the Tour de France still the most sought-after autograph in the morning at the village départ never wore the yellow jersey but in the race for the hearts of the public he outstripped the more clinical Jacques Anquetil Anquetil was reduced to stunts such as taking on the motorpaced Bordeaux-Paris marathon a few hours after finishing the Dauphiné Libéré stage race in order to win hearts and minds but was never loved in the way that "Poupou" still is the same with Miguel Indurain and it has been the same with Lance Armstrong since his first Tour win in 1999 There have been doubts about the Texan's alleged use of banned drugs – always hotly denied by him and never proven – leading to shouts of "dopé" from the roadside but the claims against him were not at the root of the French public's lack of love for Lance Nor was it due to the way he bullied Filippo Simeoni out of a possible stage win in 2004 It wasn't even the fact that he jokingly called the French football team "assholes" in 2006 (after recent events that might even strike a chord with the homme dans la rue) By then the damage had been done and it boiled down to one thing: the Texan was simply too successful where he struggled due to the heat and a crash all his victories were surgical strikes rather than guerrilla warfare meticulously done but once admiration for his return from life-threatening cancer had faded into the background And romance in cycling means one thing: having a horrible time on the bike but smiling as it happens So here is what Armstrong has to do in the next few days Ferry a few bottles up and down the bunch for the television cameras Attempt the odd coup de panache worthy of an ageing champion Bring out the broken French he produced in 2004 If he sees a dog or a black cat running across the road 27 February, 2023 By Eiffage will reuse material excavated from the Lyon to Turin high speed rail project’s base tunnel to deliver €189.5M (£167M) of above ground works for a new transport hub in France The base tunnel forms part of Tunnel Euralpin Lyon Turin (TELT)'s Turin to Lyon high speed rail project Around 57.5km of the line is being built below ground in the Mont-Cenis twin bored base tunnel which runs under the Alps between France and Italy and will be one of the longest railway tunnels in the world Eiffage’s subsidiaries Eiffage Génie Civil and Eiffage Rail have been awarded a €189.5M (£167M) contract for works associated with a transport hub on the French exit of the base tunnel The Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne railway interconnection will connect the existing railway network in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to the Mont Cenis base tunnel The contract was awarded by French railway company SNCF Réseau which is acting as project owner under an agreement with TELT Work will include the construction of 1.5M.m³ of railway embankments which will be backfilled using material excavated from the Lyon-Turin tunnel Eiffage will build 10.5km of retaining walls between 2m and 13.5m high two viaduct-style rail bridges crossing the river Arvan and two rail underpass bridges as part of repairs to the RD906 road Work will also include the installation of 8km of noise barriers with an average height of 4.5m several hydraulic structures and 1,700m of passenger platforms and access hoppers Eiffage will construct a new rail platform and infrastructure for the passenger and fire safety buildings for the Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne train station It will lay new track to serve the Trimet aluminium plant and carry out track improvement works on the historic Maurienne Valley train line As part of the extensive ground work activities Works started in February 2023 and will involve four phases with gaps in between to change over between rail infrastructure construction and tracks development and to switch traffic between different configurations Construction of the Lyon-Turin base tunnel is making good progress. After almost seven years of tunnelling the first 10.5km of the Lyon-Turin base tunnel was completed in April of last year with a breakthrough at Saint-Martin-la-Port Eiffage, Vinci and Implenia are leading the tunnelling works across three contracts Final completion of the Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne rail hub is scheduled for spring 2032 Want to read more? Subscribe to GE’s enewsletters and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn Tagged with: Dublin’s proposed 19.5km long Metrolink railway project is moving towards a planning decision with key firms appointed to help take it to delivery stage The May 2025 issue of Ground Engineering visits ground investigation sites on the French-Swiss border for Cern’s proposed new particle accelerator tunnel Network Rail has completed a £33M project to stabilise a “large and complex” active landslide that has been disrupting a railway line in County Durham for 150 years Network Rail has selected four suppliers to support it with minor reactive works in its Wales and Western region on a framework worth £750M Sign in or Register a new account to join the discussion Few people outside of France have heard of Les Sybelles but it’s a big ski area with some big skiing This has all turned out rather more entertaining that anybody could have anticipated the Tour de France had become an event whose prestige greatly outstripped its suspense when Chris Froome held a slender lead through the final week in the Alps it always felt as though the Briton was holding his rivals comfortably at arm’s length Julian Alaphilippe has a bigger buffer (1:30) than Froome did on the corresponding stage two years ago (23 seconds) and yet his lead feels altogether more tenuous for the obvious reason that this is wholly uncharted territory for the Frenchman who has never before contended over three weeks Some five riders are poised should the last two days in the Alps prove too much for Alaphilippe and just 44 seconds separate second-placed Egan Bernal from Emanuel Buchmann in 6th starting with today’s short but demanding stage from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Tignes by way of the mighty Col de l’Iseran The general classification picture is as follows ahead of today's stage: There are five climbs on today’s route the first 89km might well feel like one long ascent all the way to the highest point of the Tour The first classified ascent is the category 3 Côte de Saint-André (3.1km at 6.8%) after 25km A short plateau leads on to the category 2 Montée d’Aussois (6.5km at 6.2%) After climbing a portion of the Col de la Madeleine (category 3 the road leads on to the Col d’Iseran (12.9km at 7.5%) The Souvenir Henri Desgrange will be awarded to the first man across the top long descent follows before the final category 1 ascent to the finish at Tignes (7.4km at 7%) Julian Alaphilippe’s face betrayed signs of suffering for much of the day yesterday but his pedalling remained agile right up until he hit the upper reaches of the Col du Galibier he limited his losses to 20 seconds at the top and then produced a daring descent to recoup those loses He might have to repeat that feat on the Iseran this afternoon His rivals must surely know by now that they cannot rely on the hard road to unseat Alaphilippe – they must take matters in hand themselves Alaphilippe escaped a time penalty last night after a team helper pushed him near the top of the Galibier The peloton is assembling on the start line in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne where the neutralised start is at 13:45 local time They are scheduled to hit kilometre zero at 13:55 The peloton rolls out of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in warm but slightly overcast conditions The flag drops and stage 19 of the Tour de France is officially underway There will be no shortage of riders trying to get in the day's early break Michael Woods (EF Education First) stretches things out on these gradually rising opening kilometres Rui Costa and Romain Bardet are also prominent near the front of the peloton.  Rui Costa stretches things out a little further but the elastic has yet to snap at the head of the peloton Alex Dowsett and Jens Debusschere (Katusha-Alpecin) are already out the back of the bunch in these opening kilometres Pello Bilbao (Astana) and Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) put in digs at the head of the peloton but the day's early break has yet to take shape Dan Martin accelerates with Vincenzo Nibali Pello Bilbao and Jesus Herrada for company This quartet has a small lead over the peloton Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) and Pello Bilbao (Astana) have 12 seconds in hand on the peloton but there are still plenty of riders endeavouring to bridge across Herrada and Bilbao have extended their buffer to 20 seconds over the peloton This is a group with serious pedigree and none of them are a threat on general classification - an ideal combination in such circumstances Herrada and Bilbao are exchanging turns fluidly and their buffer over the bunch is up to 27 seconds Joey Rosskopf (CCC) is trying to bridge across alone but there are still riders trying desperately to fling themselves across the gap and join the break Nils Politt and Romain Sicard are currently in no man's land between the break and the bunch Chad Haga and Ben King have joined Rosskopt Sicard and Politt in their pursuit of the four leaders This has been an intense start to proceedings and riders will surely pay for these efforts come the fearsome Iseran The small chasing group has been subsumed by the peloton Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos) was briefly among the riders trying to forge up to the break and now Dylan van Baarle is part of a group of five riders that is giving chase to the leaders The Van Baarle group has been brought back and the peloton is strung out into lone long line 31 seconds behind the four escapees.  Nibali and Bilbao hit the base of the day's first classified climb, the category 3 Côte de Saint-André (3.1km at 6.8%) Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) has been very active in the opening part of this stage and the Sardinian is now bounding up the climb and trying to bridge across alone to his teammate Martin in the break Michael Woods and king of the mountains Romain Bardet lead the peloton up to Aru's rear wheel Now French champion Warren Barguil accelerates from the bunch in a bid to make it up to the leaders There are plenty of riders being jettisoned out the back of the peloton in these brisk Andre Greipel and Stephane Rossetto are among those losing contact.  Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) has been dropped from the shrinking peloton It seems Thibaut Pinot will be without a key support rider later in the stage They have 20 seconds in hand over the peloton which has pegged back Barguil and Gallopin A short descent brings the race towards Modane the road will start climbing once again towards the category 2 Montée d’Aussois (6.5km at 6.2%) Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) and Sergio Henao (UAE Team Emirates) slide out on the descent but both men quickly remount and continue in the race.  Romain Bardet is among the riders struggling at the rear of the peloton The Frenchman placed second yesterday to move into the polka dot jersey but he appears to be paying for those efforts today.  No one team is able to bring order to this most unruly peloton A sizeable group containing Rigoberto Uran is 25 seconds down on the break while a very reduced yellow jersey group - containing all the GC contenders - is 47 seconds down Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) is back at the medical car and he looks to be receiving treatment to an injury on his left thigh The doctor has removed a bandage from his thigh and is applying heft plaster just above his knee A spray is also being applied to his thigh Is his challenge unravelling on the Montee d'Aussois The Groupama-FDJ team car pulls up alongside a visibly struggling Pinot who is now 30 seconds down on the yellow jersey group His teammates Molard and Anthony Roux ride past and pat him on the shoulder as they do so It seems clear that Pinot's teammates were already aware that he had an issue though news of a leg injury had obviously entered the public domain.  Pinot stops on the road side and directeur sportif Philippe Mauduit removes the bandage from his leg Pinot starts riding again but he is now 2:36 down on the break and almost two minutes behind the yellow jersey group He is now being caught by Alexander Kristoff There are now 25 riders at the head of the race with a lead of 47 seconds over the yellow jersey group but for the time being the focus is on the solitary Thibaut Pinot Quite why no Groupama-FDJ teammates are with him is beyond me Perhaps they understand his challenge - and perhaps his race - is already over and are simply battling to stay within the time limit Rigoberto Uran and Alejandro Valverde are the GC dangermen in this 25-strong group at the head of the race 44 seconds clear of the Alaphilippe peloton Pinot's distress is evident as he climbs the Montee d'Aussois alone 3:51 down on the escapees and 3 minutes behind the yellow jersey group.  The men at the head of the race are: Dylan van Baarle (Ineos) Vincenzo Nibali and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Merida) Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) Alejandro Valverde and Andrey Amador (Movistar) Gorka Izagirre and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) Alberto Bettiol and Michael Woods (EF Education First) Dan Martin and Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) Warren Barguil and Elie Gesbert (Arkéa-Samsic) Damiano Caruos leads the break over the Montée d’Aussois but the news is at the back of the race where Pinot is on the brink of climbing off Pinot is in tears as teammate Mathieu Ladagnous rides alongside him Ladagnous holds his bike while Pinot climbs into the team car and abandons the Tour de France.  Pinot's ill-starred relationship with the Tour de France continues Pinot's story has been one of the most compelling these past three weeks AJ Liebling's description of Archie Moore’s unsuccessful attempt to take Rocky Marciano’s world heavyweight title in 1955 seems apt: “What would ‘Moby Dick’ be if Ahab had succeeded Uran and Valverde have a minute in hand on the yellow jersey group where Jonathan Castroviejo and Wout Poels are setting the tempo for Ineos Bernal and Thomas have no other teammates left though they do have Dylan van Baarle up the road for the second day in succession.  Steven Kruijswijk has teammate Laurens De Plus up the road in this move while Emanuel Buchmann is represented by Patrick Konrad They could be very useful allies come the Iseran L'Equipe is reporting that Pinot was suffering from a torn quadricep It is not yet known precisely when that injury was sustained but it is clear that his Groupama-FDJ teammates were aware that he was carrying the injury into today's stage the 26-strong leading group is on the rather rugged plateau that leads towards the Col de la Madeleine with a lead of 1:04 over the yellow jersey group which contains all of the podium contenders and is being led by the seemingly indefatigable Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) Michael Matthews has been distanced by the front group and the Australian has sat up and waited for the peloton You can read more on the developing story of Thibaut Pinot's abrupt abandon from the Tour here.  There are in fact 28 riders in this front group which is 55 seconds up on the peloton: Dylan van Baarle (Ineos) Giulio Ciccone and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) It's interesting that Movistar have three riders in this front group Given Nairo Quintana's remarkable display on the Galibier yesterday are the Spanish squad planning a grand offensive on the Iseran given that they started the day in 7th (Quintana) The race has settled into some discernible pattern after that intense start (36.5km covered in the first hour) 1:11 separates the large yellow jersey group - which still includes Peter Sagan The break starts to splinter as it hits the truncated Col de la Madeleine (3.9km at 5.6%) Bauke Mollema has dropped back to the bunch while De Gendt and Kreuziger are also among those losing contact with the move Groupama-FDJ have issued a short statement on social media about Pinot's injury: "Thibaut suffers from a muscular lesion on his left thigh he finished stage 18 with a sharp pain and had troubles walking in the evening The escapees are onto the Col de la Madeleine with a lead of 1:23 on the Alaphilippe group Michael Woods sets the tempo on behalf of Uran at the front Interesting that Buchmann has a strong delegation of Bora-Hansgrohe riders around him in the yellow jersey group The German has been the quiet man of the overall contenders but he automatically moves up a place after Pinot's abandon and must be starting to believe more fully in his podium chances.  had dropped out of the break and waited for the peloton where he now accompanies Landa and Quintana Movistar still have Valverde and Amador in the front group Jonathan Castroviejo sets the tempo in the peloton on the Col de la Madeleine with that Bora-Hansgrohe delegation just behind him Nibali and his fellow Sicilian Caruso hold the reins in the break Damiano Caruso leads Nibali over the top of the Madeleine With Bardet and Tim Wellens both absent from this move Caruso has a chance to move into the polka dot jersey this afternoon if he can stay clear over the Iseran.  There are 21 riders left in the break after the Madeleine Their lead over the bunch is 1:56 as they approach the intermediate sprint in Bessans The men in the group are: Dylan van Baarle (Ineos) Groupama-FDJ directeur sportif Philippe Mauduit has told France Televisions that Pinot's injury was sustained two days ago He managed to suffer through yesterday's stage but the pain proved too much in the opening kilometres here. “While he was avoiding a crash his left knee hit the handlebars and the pain just got worse,” Mauduit said “We’ve been hoping for an improvement but we knew this morning that it would be complicated if the race was hard It wasn’t possible to keep riding.” The escapees are 5km from the base of the Col de l'Iseran the pivotal moment of this stage and perhaps of this entire Tour The hors categorie ascent is 12.9km at 7/5% Thibaut Pinot nearing the end of his Tour de France earlier in the stage An updated version of the story of Pinot's abandon is here Dylan van Baarle has sat up from the break and waited to join Thomas and Bernal in the yellow jersey group ahead of the Iseran The break is fragmenting on the lower slopes of the Iseran with Dan Martin among those dropped as the climb begins in earnest Castroviejo takes a long turn on the front on the lower ramps and then swings over Now Dyalan van Baarle is setting the pace for Ineos Is the grand offensive from Bernal imminent Barguil and Valverde are prominent at the front of the break Patrick Konrad and Dan Martin are among those who have been distanced The gap is down to 1:30 on the Ineos-led peloton Van Baarle rides on the front of the peloton for Ineos Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal sit just behind them 14 riders remain in front on the Iseran with a lead of 1:20 on the Ineos-led yellow jersey group: Uran The yellow jersey group is down to 20 or so riders with no obvious absentees - bar Alaphilippe still has Enric Mas for company in this group Van Baarle is still setting the pace in the yellow jersey group which has closed to just over a minute behind the break with five miles or so of the Iseran still to climb Wout Poels takes over for Ineos with Thomas and Bernal on his wheel.  and their efforts have seen Woods and Ciccone drop out of the back Alaphilippe is alone in the yellow jersey group Enric Mas has been dropped under the weight of Poels' forcing though the Dutchman does still have De Plus up the road in the break.  Nairo Quintana has been dropped from the yellow jersey group as Poels continues to force the pace Quintana impressed so much yesterday that he breathed some life into his fading podium challenge The break's lead is down to just 31 seconds as Poels still sets a brisk tempo in the yellow jersey group Geraint Thoma attacks from the yellow jersey group He opens a small gap but Bora-Hansgrohe' are shutting him down Kruijswijk accelerates and opens a small gap Alaphilippe is battling to stay on the wheels behind.. but he can still see his rivals just ahead of him Bernal and Buchmann have joined Thomas and Kruijswijk This quartet is picking off the remnants of the break and is gaining ground on Alaphilippe Alaphilippe is struggling further down the mountain Bernal is at the head of the race in the company of Barguil and 36 seconds on Alaphilippe with 4km of the Iseran remaining The situation with a little under 4km of the Iseran left: Egan Bernal (Ineos) is in front with Warren Barguil Laurens De Plus and Emanuel Buchmann are at 15 seconds Bernal is now 27 seconds down on Alaphilippe and edging ever closer to the maillot jaune Alaphilippe will need to produce the descent of his life to resurrect this situation.  De Plus sets the tempo in the Thomas group which is still only 16 seconds down with a mile of the Iseran left.  Nibali has been dropped from the Bernal group Uran has also lost contact as Barguil sets the tempo and only Simon Yates can follow as Barguil loses ground Bernal has 21 seconds on Thomas and 1:24 on Alaphilippe The Colombian is in the process of moving into the yellow jersey Egan Bernal is virtual overall leader of the Tour as he extends his lead over Alaphilippe to 1:30 in the final kilometre of the Col de l'Iseran Bernal is now putting Simon Yates into difficulty but the Briton is just about staying in contact Egan Bernal has dropped Simon Yates and now he is all alone on the Iseran though he has a long descent and the climb to Tignes still to come The Colombian will take the 8-second bonus at the top but he could do with some company in the valley before Tignes is now 1:55 down and it's difficult to imagine how there can be any way back for the Frenchman now Egan Bernal crosses the top of the Iseran alone He takes an 8-second time bonus and throws himself into the descent Nibali and Uran have been joined by Mikel Landa They cross the top of the Iseran 1:00 down on Bernal Alaphilippe reaches the same point all alone The yellow jersey takes noticeable risks on the first two corners of the descent.. He could be a very useful ally of circumstance for the Colombian ahead of the final climb to Tignes.  Bernal is extending his lead on the descent He has 1:10 on the Thomas group and 2:05 on Alaphilippe A heavy hail storm has hit the Val d'Isere where Bernal and Yates will be arriving imminently en route to Tignes.  Word reaching us that the heavy shower of sleet and snow in the Val d'Isere has caused the stage to be stopped from the top of the Col de l'Iseran The times for GC will be taken from the top of the Col de l'Iseran as the road to Tignes was impassable Christian Prudhomme pulls up alongside Simon Yates and Egan Bernal in the race director's car and explains the situation to them Confusion reigns on the Tour but from what we understand right now The riders are soft-pedalling down the descent Uran and Nibali couldn't hide their annoyance and Alaphilippe cut a forlorn figure when he caught the Thomas group and realised what had happened.  The Tour de France has taken its imitation of the Giro d'Italia to new extremes The riders are still descending the Iseran and confusion reigns We think the stage win will be awarded to Bernal That would put the Colombian in yellow - but we can surely expect polemics and objections from Deceuninck-QuickStep and perhaps others ASO have formally confirmed that the race has been stopped with the times taken from the top of the Iseran the riders are approaching the icy section of road that caused the race to be stopped pulls on a long-sleeve yellow jersey and now leans against the bonnet of the Deceuninck-QuickStep team car.  We have seen episodes like this - the Stelvio stage of the 2014 Giro the Ventoux stage of the 2016 Tour - but nothing exactly like this It's no hyperbole to say this is one of the most extraordinary moments in Tour history show that the sudden shower of hail and sleet made the road too treacherous to ride at the base of the descent of the Iseran It seems the commissaires had no other choice but to bring the stage to a halt Helicopter images focus on a snow plough clearing the road.  Christian Prudhomme explains the situation to a rueful Geraint Thomas The Ineos leadership question may well have been settled atop the Iseran As Trek-Segafredo posted on social media, this is why the stage was stopped early It appears that the issue was not just the ice but also a mudslide between the base of Iseran and the climb to Tignes.  While ASO have informed us that the times will be taken from the top of the Iseran we are still awaiting confirmation of those times and thus of the new overall standings Bernal had 2:09 on Alaphilippe at the summit per my watch That would put him 39 seconds up on the Frenchman on GC before time bonuses are factored in And there is a question over time bonuses - does Bernal get the 8-second bonus for leading over the Iseran or a 10-second bonus for stage winner there was no electronic timing atop the Iseran and so the commissaires will likely have to pick through race footage to decipher the time gaps at the top We might be waiting a while longer for the stage results and new GC to be published.. are climbing into team vehicles to be driven to Tignes Deceuninck-QuickStep have posted this image of the mudslide that led to the abrupt end to this stage We're still waiting for confirmation of the revised GC standings My (very) rough estimate is that Bernal will carry a lead of 48 seconds over Alaphilippe into stage 20 and 1:13 over Thomas That would leave Kruisjwijk at 1:25 in 4th and Buchmann 1:52 down in 5th Julian Alaphilippe reacts to today's events: “I gave everything I didn’t dream that I would go on to win the Tour but I fought to the summit and on the descent too I was carried along by the craziness of the yellow jersey Ineos directeur sportif Nicolas Portal: “It’s good for the security of the riders The ideal would have been if the race hadn’t stopped so that we could take more time on the last climb The race hasn’t been turned upside down We would have liked to have done the last climb but it’s like that ASO have confirmed that Egan Bernal will be presented with the maillot jaune on the podium in Tignes which should be in the region of 47 seconds Confirmation that the time cut will not be applied to today's stage RCS Sport were able to stop Milan-San Remo after the Turchino bundle the riders onto buses and restart the race on the Riviera but it seems it was impossible to do so here as the landslide made the road to Tignes unrideable Bahrain-Merida manager Brent Copeland to RAI television: "I spoke to Gorazd Stangelj in the race There was a lot of confusion on the decent as the race direction told the riders what was happening I’ve seen snow before a stage and so the stage was shortened but this seems very stranger There will be no stage winner's time bonus for Bernal but it seems the GC gaps will be tighter than the on-screen graphics atop the Iseran suggested Eurosport's hypothesis is that Alaphilippe will be 25 seconds behind We still await official confirmation.  It appears that Bernal will not be awarded the stage victory have his time advantage from atop the Iseran applied to the overall standings Deceuninck-QuickStep directeur sportif Geert Van Bondt to Sporza: "It is a pity that the race was cancelled We thought that Julian could make time in the descent But the safety of the riders now prevails over the race LeTour.fr reports that Bernal's provisional advantage atop the Iseran was 50 seconds on Thomas and 2:07 on Alaphilippe but the same post inaccurately reports Uran's deficit as 2:30 (he was in sight of the Thomas group at the top) there will be no stage winner's bonus awarded today but Bernal does pick up 8 additional seconds as the first rider across the Iseran Simon Yates took the 5-second bonus for second while Warren Barguil hoovered up the 2-second bonus for third If Letour.fr's reported time gap of 2:07 to Alaphilippe is confirmed then Bernal's advantage on GC would be 45 seconds But the commissaires have yet to issue any official results so this is all guesswork for the time being.  A (very) provisional and utterly unofficial estimate of the current GC picture: 1 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:483 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 00:01:034 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 00:01:155 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 00:01:42  A (very) provisional estimate of the GC picture though we still await formal confirmation of the time gaps on the Iseran:  1 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:453 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 00:01:034 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 00:01:155 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 00:01:42   Egan Bernal has arrived in Tignes where he will become the third Colombian to wear the maillot jaune after Victor Hugo Pena and Fernando Gaviria He is now on the brink of becoming the first Colombian to win the Tour - and he is still only 22 years old Alasdair Fotheringham will have a fuller account including all the reaction from Groupama-FDJ The initial reaction from Team Ineos who are on the brink of a seventh Tour win in eight years We'll have more later from Egan Bernal who is currently in the mixed zone in Tignes.  Egan Bernal in the yellow jersey on the podium in Tignes Egan Bernal to France Televisions: "I don’t know what happened I had attacked and then they told me to stop Then they told me that the race had been stopped When they explained that I was the leader and I had the yellow jersey The tar was dry but you couldn’t continue with the road in that state up ahead What counts is that I have the yellow jersey But when they gave me the yellow jersey and the lion Thibaut Pinot to France Televisions on his untimely abandon early on stage 19 The Frenchman was the strongest rider in the Pyrenees and looked poised to bridge that 34-year gap to Bernard Hinault. “I kept fighting I kept believing and hoping it [his injury] would pass It’s the biggest disappointment of my career I felt since Sunday in the Pyrenees that I was capable of doing it [winning the Tour] it’s going to take some time to digest… it’s the Tour I took a little blow when avoiding a crash in Nîmes I had a lot of pain when I made an acceleration yesterday I must have had a little muscle tear that became aggravated.” the commissaires have released the definitive results of today's stage and the general classification It turns out that our estimate that Bernal has a 48-second lead on Alaphilippe was correct after all.  There were the official time gaps atop the Col de l'Iseran The full results, report and pictures from today's remarkable stage of the Tour de France are available here Spaniard realistic about his chances of a podium finish in Paris His effort proved to be fruitless in the end as many of the main overall contenders crossed the finish line in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne together three minutes behind the day’s solo winner Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) The two-time winner of the race said the attacks were driven more by "heart than legs.” Contador improving after moving into 5th place at Tour de France Tour de France: Bardet solos to stage win in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne Froome stays vigilant at Tour de France as mountain stages tick down With seven categorised climbs along the 186.5km stage from Gap to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne Contador said it was bound to be a tough day on the bike for everyone Team Sky set to pace for much of the day once the 29-rider breakaway made its way off the front after series of attacks from Mathias Frank (IAM Cycling) and Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) that Contador made his move and bridged across to a group up the road Team Sky didn’t initially react to Contador’s attack and they also gave some leeway to Vincenzo Nibali’s subsequent move near the top of the Glandon The fast pace saw Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) fall off the back and although Valverde was able to get back on the yellow jersey group caught Contador on the descent "This was one of the toughest days on the bike,” Contador said in a team press release “ I wanted to try things and see what could be done but at the end we didn't achieve anything in particular but the only thing I now focus on is to recover “It was a very hard stage and my attacks were more driven by the heart than the legs” There are two Alpine stages left in this year’s Tour de France starting with Friday's 138km stage 19 jaunt from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to La Toussuire During this stage the field will face in succession the Col du Chaussy the Col du Mollard and La Toussuire. They will then take on stage 20’s 110.5km race from Modane Valfrejus to the iconic l’Alpe d'Huez on Saturday Chris Froome (Team Sky) has a firm hold on the overall classification leading by 3:10 over runner-up Nairo Quintana (Movistar) 6:34 over his teammate Geraint Thomas in fourth and 6:40 over Contador in fifth The Spaniard’s dream of achieving a Giro-Tour double has since faded and he is realistic about his chances of standing on the podium in Paris “I was able to observe a few things [during stage 18] and we will now see how I recover for tomorrow,” Contador said “In order for Valverde not to be on the podium “He has an incredible opportunity and just by doing things the right way it’s impossible for him not to reach the podium The sport of cycling is like this and we will have to take it day by day.” Written off as hopeless just a day earlier Floyd Landis needed a once-in-a-lifetime ride to revive his sagging chances of victory in the Tour de France on Thursday With a sensational display of brio and guts in the style of seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong the US rider put himself back in the title hunt with a solo win in the last Alpine stage The astonishing rebound silenced nay-sayers -- including Landis himself -- who believed his chances to win tomorrow were doomed after he lost more than eight minutes to race leader Oscar Pereiro of Spain in a punishing stage just 24 hours earlier very disappointed yesterday for a little while," Landis said "Today I thought I could show that at least I would keep fighting." "No matter what -- whether I win or lose -- I wanted to prove to my team that I deserved to be the leader," he said "I didn't expect it to work quite that well." Sensing his rivals would be relatively depleted Landis pedaled like a man possessed -- going all out for his Phonak squad and other key Tour contenders -- catching then overtaking a breakaway group that had gotten ahead earlier "but after all those hard mountain stages you can usually assume that people are tired and chasing doesn't work so well." pumped his right fist in celebration as he crossed the finish of the 200.5km ride -- the last stage in the Alps -- in 5 hours and had closed the time gap to an incredible 30 seconds The 30-year-old slashed the deficit by finishing 7:08 ahead of Pereiro He also trimmed an extra 30 seconds by earning bonus points for winning the stage and placing well in sprints when Landis withered almost pitifully in an uphill finish to the Tour's hardest Alpine stage and lost the leader's yellow jersey to the Spaniard Race director Jean-Marie Leblanc said Landis had given "the best performance in the modern history of the Tour" -- adding that only a day earlier Spain's Carlos Sastre finished second -- 5:42 after Landis -- and held second overall Landis broke out ahead of top rivals early in the trek from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne through three hard climbs on the way to Morzine He repeatedly doused himself with water in uphill climbs to fight the heat and massaged his thighs on the way down to get ready for more punishing ascents ahead Even Landis' rivals were awe-struck at his comeback "It's incredible the way he attacked," Sastre said we attacked Landis with five riders -- and he was still better." Making it even more incredible is that Landis is riding with an arthritic hip an injury from a 2003 crash that he hopes to correct with surgery this autumn With only three stages left -- two of them mostly flat rides in which breakaway gains are unlikely -- the stage injected new suspense to a race poised for one of the tightest finishes in years Not since the US' Greg Lemond edged out Frenchman Laurent Fignon by a record-low 8 seconds in 1989 has less than a minute separated the winner from the runner-up in cycling's premier race "See you on Saturday" -- when the second and final time trial could determine the winner Seven riders have worn the yellow jersey this year -- one short of the record Pereiro and Landis have each worn it twice Along with the traditional cruise into Paris for tomorrow's finish on the Champs-Elysees The last big test is today's race against the clock a 57km ride that snakes from Le Creusot to Montceau-les-Mines It's about the same length as the first time trial in Stage 7 Landis placed second and was 1:10 faster than Sastre and 1:40 ahead of Pereiro "I'm fairly confident in my time-trialling abilities assuming I didn't overdo it today," Landis said The French Alps have some of the most famous climbs in the world. The likes of Alpe d’Huez and the Col du Galibier rank among the more storied in Tour de France history and attract cyclists from across the globe each year There are plenty more places that never see the Tour but are equally worthy of your pedalling power the Alps are more famous for climbs on the route of the Paris-Nice stage race With the Alps range starting almost on the Côte d’Azur – also known as the French Riviera – there are stunning climbs like the Col de Turini and Col de la Madone within striking distance of Nice and the coast Photo: Pete GodingRelated questions you can explore with Ask Cyclist, our AI search engine.If you would like to ask your own question you just need to Login, Register or subscribe it’s ripe for pairing with the Vercors area of the Alps and other stunning climbs on the eastern edge of the Rhône valley Having been travelling the world to find the most beautiful – and toughest – places to ride since 2012 we’ve spent a lot of time in the French Alps so we’ve collated our findings to help you plan your next trip We’ve also got information on how to get there and the main gateways to the Alps With the French Alps stretching for around 300km as well as multiple international gateways to get to them So we’ve grouped the list into départments and split into its natural northern and southern halves to make it easier to navigate We’ve ridden every one of these climbs, either as one of our Big Rides or Classic Climbs so for most you’ll get the inside scoop of how far and how hard The host region of the 2027 UCI Cycling World Championships – ie one of the new super champs featuring almost every cycling discipline Haute-Savoie sits on the Italian and Swiss borders and is home to natural wonders including Lake Annecy The Alps’ highest peak and Europe’s second highest Although there isn’t a road to cycle to the top Named after the river – but not including Val d’Isère – the Isère départment sits just south of Lyon and includes the travel hub of Grenoble as well as some of the Alps’ very best cycling The most famous Tour de France climb of them all Next to Alpe d’Huez but without the crowds there’s less history with the Sarenne but it’s still a beast and can be added onto your Alpe d’Huez ride Sitting under Haute-Savoie and on the border with Italy Savoie is a cyclist’s paradise in the summer and a winter sports mecca when the seasons turn Tour de France bridesmaid that’s never been the final climb in a stage gradual ascent isn’t to be scoffed at and there are three ways up, A traffic-free(!) beast of a climb constructed in 2018 linking popular ski destinations Courchevel and Méribel Mouth-wateringly named climb featured 25 times in the Tour de France connecting the Maurienne and Tarentaise valleys with four different ways to the top A superb climb that’s off the beaten Tour track at 2,764m it’s the highest pass in the Alps and has two gruelling ascents to ride up Monster climb and scene of countless epic Tour battles Another great climb in sniffing distance of the south being more popular and following much of the same road as the Col de la Croix de Fer Cresting the mountain between France and Italy this climb is best known for a pink road (on the Montvalezan route) and a dog Tour legwarmer for the Iseran and close to the Haute-Savoie border and Mont Blanc This col connects the towns of Beaufort and Bourg-Saint-Maurice with Lac de Roselend and Chapelle de Roselend highlights of the ascent from the former Maybe the most photogenic climb on the Tour it has become a Tour staple just for the images It’s not the hardest climb but its hairpin bends are a big draw for racers and amateurs alike Sandwiched between Alpes-Maritimes and Hautes-Alpes on the Italy border most of the action is in the east of the départment crossing with cols cresting regions north Col d’Allos and Col des Champs are a brutal loop just south of Barcelonnette packing 3,270m of vertical into just under 120km Arguably the ultimate holiday destination for cyclists – and home to countless pro racers – Alpes-Maritimes pairs some of cycling’s iconic climbs with the stunning Côte d’Azur – aka the French Riviera – and hotspots of Nice and Monaco It's also easy to ride into Italy along the Italian Riviera in Liguria which is arguably more stunning than the French one Crossing the border with Alpes-de-Hautes-Provence it battles the Iseran for the claim of the highest pass in the Alps The Cime is an extra loop up from the main Col de la Bonette pass to the mountain’s summit so you might as well go all the way to the top A popular training climb for L*nce *rmstrong Richie Porte and more but which doesn’t feature in the Tour Signature climb from recent editions of Paris-Nice with top tier hairpin action linking Vésubie and Bévéra valleys Also features in Monte Carlo Rally and is considered one of the world’s best driving roads Gravel route on a military road that translates to ‘salt road’ and runs from France into Italy Sitting between Grenoble and Avignon is Drôme home to half of the Vercors Massif as well as a few under-the-radar climbs to be discovered Sitting by Drôme’s southern borders with Vaucluse and Alpes-de-Hautes-Provence it’s near enough to Mont Ventoux to use it as a warmup The Vercors Massif is a sub-Alpine range on the border of Isère and Drôme and is home to stunning views and quiet roads The northernmost départment in the south, Hautes-Alpes shares borders and climbs with Savoie above it, Italy to the east, Alpes-De-Haute-Provence in the south and Drôme to the west. Ascents of the Galibier, including the gravel route It’s not far from Grenoble and is where you’ll find Gap and Briançon The third highest paved col in Europe passing across the border between France and Italy – where it is known as the Colle dell’Agnello – it has featured twice in both the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia A Tour classic crested by the greats from Coppi to Merckx and beyond that connects Briançon with the Guil valley In two Tour appearances it has proved one climb too far for two phenomenons of the sport with its blend of high altitude and punishing gradients There are two routes up but one is a gravel road Punishing ascent near the Isère border that has featured in the Tour four times Filling the gap between Marseille and Nice Var has some of France's most desirable coastline as well as part of the Alps’ southern tip so this is on the border between Var and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (and more in the latter) but we had to get something in this section so we’ve stuck it in Var plus our route dips between the two départments. The Verdon Gorge is a stunning canyon that attracts tourists but is still a great place to ride Vaucluse marks the western edge of the Alps One of cycling’s most famous – and brutal – climbs There are a few ways up the Giant of Provence but all tend to be busy because it's a cyclo-tourist hotspot there is also a gravel road that takes you most of the way up and should be quieter Avignon is a little far from the main Alpine climbs but puts you in proximity with the western Alps and Mont Ventoux in particular You can fly and Avignon is also on the TGV network from Paris The northern end of the Alps is probably best reached from Geneva with frequent flights from across the UK and also Eurostar access from the UK with a change at Paris Grenoble is also accessible via air or rail with the latter taking around seven hours from London It’s a good jumping-off point for the most famous climbs in the central Alps like Alpe d’Huez and Col de la Croix de Fer Nice is probably the major point of entry for cyclists wanting to head to the big climbs it’s easy to access the famous climbs of Paris-Nice There are plenty of flights to Nice and it’s also accessible by TGV you can also fly – or get the train to – Lyon Toulon or Turin and be within striking distance of your desired destination Grenoble and Avignon are major centres with plenty of accommodation Briançon or Chamonix for the northern Alps and Barcelonnette or Gap for the south Another option is to head to the heart of the action and look for accommodation in a ski town likely to be cheaper than in winter and have facilities like spas Plus there’s almost certain to be a climb back to the resort at the end of the day Want more holiday inspiration? Take a look at our full collection of Big Rides, Classic Climbs and sportives You must be logged in to post a comment To manage an existing Cyclist magazine subscription, please visit Manage your account or visit our subscription FAQ page. To subscribe, or for other enquiries, please contact us Sign up to the Cyclist newsletter to receive curated emails direct to your inbox Sign up to our newsletter Log in to access Cyclist Rides using your email pertaining to your subscription Don't forget a subscription to Cyclist includes: Log in to post comments and use Ask Cyclist our AI platform that answers your questions based on our articles Register to comment on our latest articles Occasional emails from selected third-party sponsors and advertisers Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.