Van Aert sprints to the stage 5 win, Yates in yellow: Daily Tour Digest

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Wout van Aert won stage 5 of the Tour de France on Wednesday, proving fastest in a bunch kick in Privas, while Julian Alaphilippe has lost the yellow jersey after he was hit with a time penalty for an illegal bottle pickup inside the last 20 kilometers.

Van Aert pipped Cees Bol at the line to take the win despite a textbook lead-out from Bol’s Sunweb teammates. Sam Bennett took third on the day.

Alaphilippe finished safely in the peloton on the same time, but he was handed a 20-second penalty for taking a bottle past the 20-kilometers-to-go point. Alaphilippe’s drop down the GC standings saw Adam Yates move into the yellow jersey.

The 183-kilometer stage from Gap was an unusual one in that there was no significant breakaway move on the day. As such, there was little action to speak of for several hours until the pack approached Privas and the pace began to rise.

Ineos and Jumbo-Visma put in much of the work inside the last 10 kilometers before the sprinters teams began to move up, with Sunweb establishing itself at the head of the peloton inside the last three kilometers. The team maintained its position into the finale with Bol sitting second wheel behind teammate Casper Pedersen with 300 meters to go in what looked like a perfect set-up for the Dutchman.

Van Aert, however, was positioned just behind Bol, and with 200 meters to go he kicked on the right side of the road. Bol went on the left but van Aert pulled ahead and held on to take his second career Tour stage win. Bol settled for second with Bennett in third ahead of Peter Sagan.

Bennett’s finish earned him enough points to leapfrog Sagan in the points classification, and the Irishman will thus wear the green jersey on Thursay’s stage 6, offering at least some consolation for a Deceuninck team that lost yellow on the day.

Top 10, stage 5

1 VAN AERT Wout (Team Jumbo-Visma) 4:21:22
2 BOL Cees (Team Sunweb)
3 BENNETT Sam (Deceuninck – Quick Step) 0:04
4 SAGAN Peter (BORA – hansgrohe) 0:00
5 STUYVEN Jasper (Trek – Segafredo)
6 MEZGEC Luka (Mitchelton-Scott)
7 COQUARD Bryan (B&B Hotels – Vital Concept p/b KTM)
8 EWAN Caleb (Lotto Soudal)
9 VENTURINI Clément (AG2R La Mondiale)
10 HOFSTETTER Hugo (Israel Start-Up Nation)

Top 10, GC

1 YATES Adam (Mitchelton-Scott) 22:28:30
2 ROGLIC Primoz (Team Jumbo-Visma) 0:03
3 POGACAR Tadej (UAE-Team Emirates) 0:07
4 MARTIN Guillaume (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) 0:09
5 BERNAL Egan (INEOS Grenadiers) 0:13
6 DUMOULIN Tom (Team Jumbo-Visma)
7 QUINTANA Nairo (Team Arkéa Samsic)
8 CHAVES Esteban (Mitchelton-Scott)
9 LÓPEZ Miguel Ángel (Astana Pro Team)
10 BARDET Romain (AG2R La Mondiale)

In other news

| ‘We made a mistake,’ says Deceuninck-Quick-Step DS after Alaphilippe loses yellow

Deceuninck-Quick-Step has acknowledged its error in giving Julian Alaphilippe a water bottle inside the final 20 kilometers the Tour’s fifth stage, a decision that ultimately cost him the race lead.

“It’s a pity to lose the yellow jersey like this. We know about the 20-kilometer rule, it’s there,” said Deceuninck sports director Tom Steels after the stage, noting that “today there were some circumstances” that led the team making the late bottle transfer.

“It was quite dangerous at 70 kilometers an hour, then there was a flat part to get into position for the climb. It was the only spot we still could give a bottle,” Steels said. “It’s a special Tour, everybody has to be careful with the bottles and we have to stay away from the public also. So there were some circumstances that we missed the 20 kilometer mark by two kilometers. We made a mistake. Nothing to do about it.”

| Imola will host Worlds

The UCI has announced that Imola, Italy, will be the new host for the 2020 UCI Road World Championships.

The governing body found itself scrambling to find an alternate location for the event when plans to hold Worlds in Aigle and Martigny, Switzerland, were called off due to the coronavirus pandemic. Imola was apparently one of three Italian bids to host Worlds.

The road race course will be a good one for the climbers, as was the initial plan when the event was still set to run in Switzerland.

| Spratt extends with Mitchelton-Scott

Mitchelton-Scott has signed Amanda Spratt to a two-year contract extension. The new deal will take Spratt, who has been with the team since its inception, through 11th season there.

The 32-year-old Australian has been one of Mitchelton’s most important riders in recent years, collecting four WorldTour-level wins over the past three seasons and winning three Tours Down Under in a row from 2017 to 2019. As a strong climber, she has often shared featured rider status with Annemiek van Vleuten, but with the world road champion headed to Movistar next year, Spratt is set to have more chances for herself.

“I feel like I am at a point in my career where I am really ready to take on the leadership role,” Spratt said. “It’s going to come with more pressure, but I think I am ready for that. In the chances I have had to be the leader, I have done a good job so it’s the next progression for me.”

| Bagioli wins Coppi e Bartali stage 2

Andrea Bagioli nabbed stage 2 of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali on Wednesday.

The promising young Italian topped Jhonatan Narváez and Nicola Conci with a strong showing on a difficult Sogliano al Rubicone finishing circuit. Already well-placed after his Deceuninck-Quick-Step squad won Tuesday’s team time trial, Bagioli took over the race lead from teammate Mikkel Honoré with his stage 2 win.

| Milan wins U23 Giro stage 5

Jonathan Milan sprinted to victory on stage 5 of the Giro Ciclistico d’Italia under-23 race.

The 19-year-old Italian, who recently won Italy’s U23 time trial title, topped Jordi Meeus and Jake Steward in Rosá. Tom Pidcock remains atop the GC standings with three stages to go.

In case you missed it

| Advantage Jumbo-Visma: Early impressions of the Tour’s battle for yellow

The Tour’s first summit finish provided some insight into who is going well – and who isn’t – so far at this year’s race.

| The refreshing audacity of Guillaume Martin

As Matt de Neef writes, Guillaume Martin livened up stage 4.

Today’s featured image of Wout van Aert stage 5 of the Tour de France comes from Cor Vos.