After the comments about overloaded threads etc. here is the Stage 5 thread
(Bit of copy and paste from the official site but…)

A course made for sprinters
Stage 5 is pretty long with 189.5km with many changes of direction and a course exposed to the wind. It’s a celebration of the braveness of Anglophone soldiers who lost their lives during World War I, passing near the Canadian memorial of Vimy, the British cemetery of Sailly-Saillisel, the necropolis of Rancourt, the historial of the Big War in Péronne, the South African memorial of Bois Delville in Longueval, the franco-british memorial of Thieval and the last one in Villers-Bretonneux where the names of 10.733 Australian soldiers who died at war from 1916 to 1918 are written. A bunch sprint finish is highly expected in Amiens even though it’ll be complicated to get the race bunched up. So far, green jersey wearer André Greipel is the only sprinter to have reached his goal. Mark Cavendish is avid for a revenge and his Etixx-Quick Step team will be fully focused on keeping the race together in order to preserve Tony Martin’s yellow jersey. John Degenkolb, Peter Sagan and Alexander Kristoff are also hungry for more. Nacer Bouhanni has showed that his injuries following his crash at the French championship don’t handicap him and France has a local sprinter in Brittany: Arnaud Démare hails from Beauvais, the nearby town.

No hills (well more than Stage 2) and time for the sprinters, Cav to the line maybe but not sure how much he left on the Cobbles yesterday, though having Martin in Yellow might get them an extra 10% in their legs today.

Possibly a quiet day for the GC and a chance for the top guys to settle in and remember it’s a 3 week race 🙂

Might take this chance to have an early night (stages finish about 1:50am for me)

no pics of Sagan ?

Fail 😉

Good work, just to add some bits!

Standings of the main GC contenders:
2 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky (-1) 0:00:12
3 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team (-) 0:00:13
7 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Etixx – Quick-Step (-) 0:00:34
8 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo (-) 0:00:36
12 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing (-) 0:01:32
13 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team (-) 0:01:38
14 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo (-) 0:01:39
16 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team (-) 0:01:51
17 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team (-) 0:01:56
18 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha (-) 0:02:00
19 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale (+2) 0:02:07
20 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team (+3) 0:02:39
21 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale (+5) 0:02:54
30 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr (-3) 0:06:18
49 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar (+11) 0:10:02
54 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo (+8) 0:10:09

C-Cycling stage preview for today

Live coverage options from 12.15

Also some quotes:

Tony Martin:

“Having a flat tire and changing the bike, with the wrong position, I was just thinking to finish the stage and look forward to the next stages,” Martin said. “Suddenly, five kilometres to the finish, we were all together and everyone was looking at each other, nobody really wanted to pull, so I just decided to give it a chance and to go for it, and somehow I found some power and I made it.

“I don’t know what happened in the back but I was so nervous, I was just pulling. I don’t know how many watts I pulled but it was more than I ever did. Now I am so happy, and a thousand thanks to my team for supporting me the whole week.”

‘The battery in Thibaut’s dérailleur went. It was charged. It happened once in the Classics. Maybe it’s the vibrations.’

For the DI2 detractors…

And a map:

Must be a stage for the sprinters this, one of the very few in this years tour. Cav will be up there for it’s Kristoff for me that will take it.

I’ve actually ridden parts of this stage and the terrain is rolling and very, very open, lots of fields and not much else. The only challenge they will have is that as it is so open the wind can be a bit fierce, not Dutch coast fierce but enough to make you know it’s there. This will IMO hamper the breakaway more than the bunch so I would be astonished if it wasn’t a bunch sprint.

And my favourite pic from yesterday, a screen shot from ITV but still awesome.

Cheers for the extra Sam, was trying to remember what was in the old threads 🙂 I’m sure whoever picks up for tomorrow will get it 😉

It does feel like the madness might fade away a little today, nothing to really break the field. All out for a sprint to the line and Martin to keep the jersey for another day. Maybe even some calm till the Team TT on Sunday?

It does feel like the madness might fade away a little today,

Agreed but the wind could still make things spicy!

No chance!!

Tour Stage 5 Preview

Weather: cool and cloudy with a temperature of 18?C. There will be steady 30-40km/h breeze which will gust up to 50km/h. The “a spring classic a day” theme continues.

8) Hoping Nibali is up for some racing again!

Today’s prediction – one of the GC contenders to lose out as per Quintana 2013.

Today’s prediction – Pace grotesquely high as everyone defends furiously. Pack stays together in spite of some hairy moments, Cav gets a proper lead out and smashes it.

Well Cav is the clear favourite (betting wise) and Martin fav to keep yellow.

Actually it wasn’t Quintana who lost out, it was Valverde but the prediction stands. Really high pace, nervous peloton thinking about the wind and somebody loses a chunk of time. Then a Cav win would be good.

My pie in the sky predictions for today :-
Etixx – Quick-Step to take the day out with a high pace and look to break up the field in any cross wind, Tinkoff-Saxo to be all over them like a cheap suit, Sagan to attack on one of the last 2 climbs and go for a long range effort to avoid a sprint finish with Cav but not get enough time to get yellow from Martin.

I think it’ll be all a bit “annnnd relax” today. Whilst there will be the inevitable Breton Sache’/Cofidis/Bora punt off the front it’ll all come back with 50k’s to go then head into a sprint and I reckon, all things considered it’ll be Buhani FTW, out spiking Cav with 1k to go…
Essex Quick Step will be the head of the arrow all day with Tinkov?Mov/Sky letting them do all the work.

By “annnd relax” I mean, “phew” a road without bumps in it and we can now all big ring it.

Sunflowers FTW.

Sadly I suspect that a ‘chilled’ stage after the intensity of the past few days mean tired bodies and frazzled minds, genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if the major event of today was another massive crash.

Hope I’m wrong.

^ good work mike et al.

predict 3 fail to start today – ok, uneducated guess
eight man breakaway that doesnt get caught as everyone is toast from yesterday.

Not a prediction, but if the wind creates opportunities for echelons it might tempt Movistar/Astana/Katusha and other big name GC stragglers to try and press on a bit. Whether they have the legs for it is another matter.

Can’t imagine Nibali/Rodriguez/Quintana/Valverde will fancy heading to the mountains with the GC as it currently stands, most of a couple of minutes down on Froome who looks like he is in very good form. Might force a few hands to have a go whether they really want to or not.

EQS in-car footage from when Tony went clear yesterday. I particularly like how little attention is being paid to the road!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7BCSpRasAU

“he’s on my bike!”

Thanks guys. The tension on here is almost as good as watching it on the telly!

What on earth are we gonna do on the rest days?

I particularly don’t like how little attention is being paid to the road, seatbelts and (in parts) the steering wheel in that EQS vid. Cringeworthy.

Makes you think about being a roadside spectator with that sort of shocking driving going on a few feet away.

What hope of improving driving when elite cycling is setting the poorest example possible. And they are the ones posting the footage themselves! Crazy, imo. Maybe it’s just me.

What hope of improving driving when elite cycling is setting the poorest example possible.

The riding is pretty shocking as well. You can clearly see them taking up the whole road with a long string of cars stuck behind them 🙂

good work mikewsmith

/hat

Whilst there will be the inevitable Breton Sache’/Cofidis/Bora punt off the front

You psychic or something?

we can already see two riders on the attack. They are Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) and Pierre-Luc Perichon (Bretagne Seche).

😉

Probably been covered elsewhere, but what’s the significance of the rear wheels being held in the air by spectators on the cobbled sections yesterday?

If the riders puncture then it’s quicker than waiting for a team car.

I particularly don’t like how little attention is being paid to the road, seatbelts and (in parts) the steering wheel in that EQS vid. Cringeworthy.

+1 closed roads and all but still scary considering how close they are to so many fast moving riders.

and they aren’t spectators they are team staff stationed ahead.

Update – I need to offer up another choice FTW, seems Bouhannnnniiii has crashed out and off to hospital, get well soon son, endo’d in a ditch.. 😐

Erm… Erm… Ok, long shot… Chavanel 😕

That’s 3 of my original team now gone if Bouhanni is out. I’m cursed!

My prediction of a fast paced day looks like pish. Certainly not a quiet day so far though…

All my team still in though as I sit in the bottom 5 they may as well not be. I’m hoping that Hesjedal, Rolland (0 points), Pinot and Peraud (3 and 4 points) do something in the mountains.

Well apart from the abandons it’s still looking nice and quiet out there

N’uva crash – Mr Croque Monsieur off and a couple of Kat’ boys too.. all up being paced back on.

My Breton blokes still out front @ 1:40 8)

Looking miserable out there and a split. Some more will be dropping lots of time today. BMC/Sky kicked on

Official live tracker thing…

here.

Just back in time for the copper to bin the motorbike…

{sniff}Me Breton blokes been caught a while back :?{/sniff}

2 groups, lead group 100 or so, 2nd group 90 odd, Cav had a flat but back on.

Time for tea..

Here mate hold me shoulder while I have a slash. he he.