Greipel nets stage win as crashes mar Tour stage
Print Edition
GERMAN Andre Greipel of the Lotto-Soudal team won the rain-drenched fifth stage of the Tour de France in a sprint finish yesterday, while countryman rider Tony Martin of Etixx-Quick Step kept the yellow jersey and the main Tour contenders stayed safe as others tumbled around them in crashes.
Greipel attacked some 100 meters from the line and held on to beat Slovakian Peter Sagan, riding for Tinkoff-Saxo. Briton Mark Cavendish of Etixx-Quick Step took third place.
The mostly flat stage took the riders over 189.5 kilometers from Arras to Amiens in northern France, passing by some of the battlefields of World War I.
Riders hoping for a stress-free stage after three days of intense racing were to be disappointed as the rain, which largely stayed away the day before, thundered down and turned the slippery roads of northern France into something of an ice rink.
French sprint hope Nacer Bouhanni was taken to hospital by ambulance after crashing early in the stage.
The 24-year-old former French champion hit the deck after 12km. It was Bouhanni’s second crash within 10 days having also tasted the tarmac in the finale of the French Championships a week before the Tour began.
He injured his ribs in that fall and initially announced on his Twitter account that he would miss the Tour, only to confirm his participation the day before the Grand Boucle began.
However, his Cofidis manager Yvon Sanquer revealed he had broken nothing and his sports director Didier Rous told France Televisions that Bouhanni had “again hurt his injured ribs”.
He will be out of action for between eight to 10 days, Sanquer added.
He was the eighth person to abandon the Tour after seven riders crashed out on Monday’s third stage that saw a spectacular pile-up involving around 20 riders.
It was Bouhanni’s second participation at the Tour after 2013, in which he also crashed out of the race inside the first week.
New Zealand’s Jack Bauer also abandoned the Tour around 100km.
The 30-year-old 2010 national champion was caught up in the earlier stage crash.
Cannondale-Garmin’s Bauer also hit the tarmac on the chaotic third stage on Monday.
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