Clarke wins and Pogacar almost destroys the Tour in the infernal pavés News

Bad day for Jumbo-Visma, who could have lost Roglic's trick

The cyclist Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) has won this Wednesday the fifth stage of the Tour de France, disputed between Lille and Arenberg over 157 kilometers, in an infernal cobblestone where Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) flew to almost destroy, added to falls and breakdowns of rivals, this French round that Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) continues to lead.

Simon Clarke, a 35-year-old veteran Australian rider, took the stage victory - his first on the Tour - from the breakaway by never giving up on his chances and putting the wheel at the last moment into the Dutchman Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché), with Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen (TotalEnergies) third.

The escape of the day, formed almost from the beginning, had six members but finally there were four who played for victory. The American Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) was fourth, despite the fact that he became the virtual leader of the test, and his teammate Magnus Cort fifth, but cut off 5 kilometers from the finish line.

But the stage bombs were behind. In a stage that did not disappoint, that had everything and that could have been more key than a high finish, the level of current champion Tadej Pogacar stood out, leaving all his rivals behind in a new and different exhibition, this time on cobblestones, along eleven sections and almost 20 accumulated kilometers.

Without a team supporting him, with his fallen teammate Brandon McNulty being his only squire, Pogacar showed that he is an off-road cyclist and on another level. He even seemed to be able to contest the stage, when he was the only one who could follow the wheel of specialist Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) and together they cut time on the run.

In the end, Pogacar did not contest the stage and could only put a 13-second margin on most of his rivals, despite the fact that he managed to have a one-minute advantage over the shortened large group. And, if those 'roosters' did not lose more power in the roost, it was thanks to the fight of the leader, in the yellow jersey, Wout van Aert to help Jonas Vingegaard.

In the madness of the cobbled hell, the Dane had mechanical problems and, after several bike changes with colleagues, he finally took a new one from his service car. With the help of the team, the key was that Van Aert - who went down once, and almost twice, before the pavés - let himself fall to his group to, as a 'fire extinguisher', leave that loss in the 13 quoted seconds.

Who Van Aert could not help was the other leader of the Jumbo-Visma, a Primoz Roglic who went down in a pileup when leaving a roundabout. Initially, it seemed that the Slovenian could rejoin, but it was not. He couldn't even follow Vingegaard's group, who now appears to be the team leader. Also, Roglic could have dislocated his shoulder in the fall. At the moment, he left 2:08 with Pogacar and 1:55 with other favorites.

Among them, the Spaniard Enric Mas (Movistar Team), who was one of the leaders who, grouped together, entered that group of van Aert, Vingegaard and company together with the INEOS Grenadiers Adam Yates and Geraint Thomas, the Frenchman David Gaudu (Groupama -FDJ), Jakob Fuglsang (Israel) and Nairo Quintana (Arkéa Samsic), among others.

The provisional general is still led by Van Aert despite giving it up virtually during this stage, with a margin of 13 seconds over Neilson Powless and 14 over Boasson Hagen. Tadej Pogacar is fourth at 19 seconds and Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step) is fifth at 25 from the Belgian.

This Thursday, the sixth stage will take the peloton from Binche to Longwy in a mid-mountain day of 219.9 kilometres, the longest of this French round. A stage like a classic with a steep end with two walls in the last 6 kilometers that could go a long way if the forces accompany.

--CLASSIFICATIONS.

-Stage.

1. Simon Clarke (AUS/Israel-Premier Tech) 3:13:35.

2. Taco van der Hoorn (NED/Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Materials) m.t.

3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR / TotalEnergies) a 2.

4. Neilson Powless (USA/EF Education-EasyPost)

5. Magnus Cort (DIN/EF Education-EasyPost) 30.

-General.

1. Wout van Aert (BEL / Jumbo-Visma) 16:17:22.

2. Neilson Powless (USA/EF Education-EasyPost)

3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR / TotalEnergies) 14.

4. Tadej Pogacar (SVN/UAE Team Emirates) 19.