Tour de France 2009: Thomas Voeckler wins stage five as Fabien Cancellara retains yellow
Thomas Voeckler, the darling of the French crowds ever since he sneaked a yellow jersey in 2004 and defended it like a Lion for ten days, took advantage of a cagey peloton on another difficult windy stage to claim a popular breakaway win on a day when Mark Cavendish showed exactly how serious he is in winning the green jersey.

For once the Tour de France peloton got their calculations wrong and Cavendish was left racing for third place behind Voeckler and Mikhail Ignatiev but, putting that disappointment aside, he hit the turbo and raced to third to add another 26 points to his mounting total.

It also denied dangerous rivals such as Tyler Farrar, Thor Hushovd, Gerald Cioleck and Oscar Freire the opportunity gain ground, which is all part of the tricky process of being top dog in Paris come the end of the month.


Before the Tour Cavendish insisted that he wouldn’t be chasing intermediate sprints en route, at least not unless he absolutely had to, but he would race all the bunch finishes flat out regardless of whether the break had kept away for the day or if he made a mistake.

For a competitor ordinarily concerned only with winning that is an important but necessary change of mindset. Coming first is fantastic, but third is not to be sniffed at either.

An interesting day had begun at Cap D’Agde, fame for its nudist colonies, with the peloton in contrast covering up most of their raw flesh. The hot sun and wind has been relentless in recent days and the racing itinerary unforgiving.

Not only have the riders competed in the an individual time-trial and a team time-trail but Columbia virtually transformed Monday’s stage to La Grande Motte into another full scale time-trial.

There were a lot of sore bodies and tired minds around, which partially explains their failure to catch an unusually strong six man break including Voeckler and the super aggressive Ignatiev which worked together slickly until Voeckler decided this was the day to seize his first stage win in a Grand tour.

Strangely he took yellow in 2004 the day after a torrid team time-trial as the peloton allowed a break led by Stuart O’Grady to prosper. An opportunist rider like Voeckler will have stored that in his mental data base and known that yesterday was a day to attack.

Meanwhile back in the peloton Alberto Contador, after missing the split in the peloton on Monday en route to La Grande Motte, was sticking religiously to the wheel of Lance Armstrong yesterday, reasoning that the seven time Tour winner was a good man to follow on a gusty day racing down the Mediterranean coast.

The logic was flawless – Armstrong tends to be in the right place at the right time – and sure enough was able to react when leader Fabien Cancellera, the most aggressive and entertaining of yellow jerseys, put in a huge turn alongside the Ou de Saises where the wind was at its strongest.

Cancellara and his Saxo Bank team split the peloton but this time not decisively and the second group were back in contact ten minutes down the road.

It was definitely Voeckler’s day, however, and a rider of his ilk might also fancy today’s run from Gerona to Barcelona is another that although nominally sprinter’s stage contains enough hills and wind to keep many others interested.

It also has a gnarly uphill sprint to the finish and which could again test Cavendish’s determination to fight for every point.

Tour de France details

Stage five: 196.5km Le Cap d'Agde to Perpignan:

1. Thomas Voeckler (France - Bbox - Bouygues) 4h 29m 35secs, 2. Mikhail Ignatiev (Russia - Katusha) +7secs, 3. Mark Cavendish (Britain - Columbia), 4. Tyler Farrar (U.S. - Garmin) s.t., 5. Gerald Ciolek (Germany - Milram) s.t., 6. Danilo Napolitano (Italy - Katusha) s.t., 7. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spain - Caisse d'Epargne) s.t., 8. Lloyd Mondory (France - AG2R) s.t., 9. Oscar Freire (Spain - Rabobank), 10. Thor Hushovd (Norway - Cervelo) s.t..

Other: 44 N Roche (Rep of Ireland, AG2R); 48 B Wiggins (GB, Garmin); 69 D Millar (GB, Garmin); 152 C Wegelius (GB, Silence-Lotto) all s.t. as Ignatiev.

Overall standings: 1 F Cancellara (Switzerland, Saxo Bank) 15h 07m 49s; 2 L Armstrong (US, Astana) same time; 3 A Contador (Spain, Astana) at 19s; 4 A Kloeden (Germany, Astana) 23; 5 L Leipheimer (US, Astana) 31; 6 Wiggins 38; 7 H Zubeldia (Spain, Astana) 51; 8 T Martin (Germany, Columbia) 52; 9 D Zabriskie (US, Garmin) 1m 06s; 10 Millar 1-07.

Other: 48 N Roche 3-16; 60 Cavendish 3-33; 154 Wegelius 8-09.

Points: 1 Cavendish 96; 2 Hushovd 70; 3 Farrar 54.

Mountains: 1 J Veikkanen (Finland, Francaise des Jeux) 9pts; 2 Martin 6; 3 A Geslin (France, Francaise des Jeux ) 6.

Team: 1 Astana 43h 49m 39s; 2 Saxo Bank at 2m 33s; 3 Columbia 2-45.

Young rider: 1 T Martin 15h 08m 41s; 2 R Kreuziger (Czech Rep, Liquigas) at 39s; 3 V Nibali (Italy, Liquigas) 44.