Tour de France: Stage Five Individual Time Trial – Live! | Sport

Froome ends well outside of Martin’s time in 36’20 ”, almost 47 seconds out of the leader. Eeeesh. I think it’s fair to say that the former champion is using this race as a stepping stone to his recovery. It will be good to see him get involved in some getaways as the race progresses, but I’m not sure we should expect too much from him.

Hello World. Tony Martin has now set the pace at 35’33 ”, possibly the first big name to finish, having been hit by the bill a couple of days ago. Meanwhile, Froom is 2 km away and ascends the last climb. Looks like he could challenge Martin for leadership.

That will be all of me – Michael Butler is here to guide you through the remainder of today’s time trial.

Amund Grondahl Jansen (Team BikeExchange) is the first man to finish, in a time of 37’04 ”, with an average speed of 44 km / h on the 27.2 km route. He is defeated almost immediately by Clément Russo of Arkea-Samsic, in 36’10 ”.

Bernie eisel, the former Team Sky rider who now works for Eurosport, is on the track on the back of a motorcycle and tells us that he thinks the four-time champion Froome is riding well.

Marco Haller (Victorious Bahrain) crosses the second intermediate control in Laval at 17.2km and sets the best time, 22’35 ”, but is dethroned almost immediately by Martin, who registers 22’17”, at an average speed of 46.3km / h. Very respectable.

All eyes He will be in the overall contenders in a couple of hours. How will Primoz Roglic’s body improve after his heavy crash in the third stage? Can Richard Carapaz (Team Ineos) further his claim to absolute leadership of that team? And will this undulating route suit the climbing skills of Tadej Pogacar, the champion, of UAE-Team Emirates?

Martin, nicknamed Der Panzerwagen, perhaps, unsurprisingly, has registered the best time in the first control, 11’58 ”. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma) just rolled down the starting ramp. There are still 159 runners to start.

Chris Froome (Israel Start Up Nation) and Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma) are on their way. Both are traditionally TT specialists, but both are nursing injuries from previous crashes.

The latest edition of the world’s largest cycling race has accumulated a seemingly endless drama in its first four stages: an opening day marked by an accident when world champion Julian Alaphilippe swapped the rainbow stripes for the yellow jersey, the memorable Mathieu van der Poel’s success at Mûr-de-Bretagne on stage two, plus crashes on stage three, before Mark Cavendish’s return from victory at Fougeres yesterday.

After a stressful and eventful opening to the race for runners, a 27.2km individual time trial may seem like a welcome change from Brittany’s narrow and winding roads. It’s still going to hurt, it goes without saying, but at least they’ll have the road more or less to themselves in an unusually long ‘Race of Truth’ by the usual standards of the first week of the Tour.

Today’s route includes five ascents considered important enough to be included on the map, the highest being Louverné, with a crest of 104 m after 10.9 km. Julian Alaphilippe, who is currently eight seconds behind Mathieu van der Poel in the general classification, has his eyes on reclaiming that famous yellow jersey that arrives tonight. The GC battle has already been significantly shaken by all those crashes, and a host of names are hoping to show their form and grab a few seconds off their rivals on the road.