Tour de France 2024 Stage 5

July 3, 2024 Likely another opportunity for the sprinters but they'll have to get over a few category 4 climbs first before a 40KM flat run in to the finish. All was quiet as the flag dropped. It took over 30KM before Clément Russo of Groupama-FDJ and Mattéo Vercher of TotalEnergies went on the attack. Their lead stabilized around 4 minutes and was controlled by Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek. With 58KM to go, the pace picked up as the bunch got closer to the intermediate sprint point. Yellow Jersey Tadej Pogačar of UAE nearly came down as the peloton squeezed through a central reservation. A few riders behind crashed but everyone got back without issue. In the intermediate sprint, Mads Pedersen took the points again against the guys looking to take the Green Jersey. In the process, the gap to the break was reduced to within a minute and the catch was made with 37KM to go. The lead outs all seemed organized until 3KM to go when the riders went through two round abouts. Everyone was jumbled except for Astana and Lotto-Dstny. Alpecin-Deceuninck hit the front with 1.5KM to go with a full train but they ran out guys quickly and Jasper Philipsen was left alone with 400M to go. Lidl-Trek then Israel-Premier Tech took up the pace but at 200M, Mark Cavendish of Astana opened his sprint. He went across the road, right to left. Philipsen followed but could not get passed Cavendish. The win cements Mark Cavendish as the all-time leader in Tour de France stage wins with 35, surpassing Eddy Merckx as the lone record holder. Philipsen was able to hold on for second place as Alexander Kristoff of Uno-X Mobility took third place.