The sprint the crash couldn't kill
The first true sprinters' day of the Tour ran downhill out of the Pyrenean foothills into Pau — cycling's most-visited stage town after Paris — and it very nearly came apart at the worst moment. A crash with 5 km to go tore through the leadout trains and left the fast men improvising.
Olav Kooij improvised best. The Visma–Lease a Bike sprinter launched long — earlier than he'd ever want to — and simply held everyone off. Max Kanter took second, Tim Merlier third, and Kooij took his first career Tour de France stage win.
Quiet day in yellow
Baptiste Veistroffer spent the day off the front without ever stretching the elastic past three minutes, and a late dig from Kasper Asgreen, Fred Wright and Valentin Paret-Peintre was shut down 17 km out. Torstein Træen finished safely in the front group and kept his yellow jersey for another day — with the Tourmalet looming on the road ahead.
Stage details on the stage 5 page — follow it all on the Tour tracker.
