Mark Cavendish won stage 5 of the Tour de France in a bunch sprint in Saint Vulbas to break the record for victories at the race that he had shared with Eddy Merckx.
The Astana-Qazaqstan rider hit the front from distance to claim his 35th Tour stage win, beating Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) who took second place, while Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility) finished third.
Cavendish had announced his retirement last year but reneged on the idea after he crashed out of the Tour and lost his chance to establish a new record.
After a relatively sedate start to proceedings, Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ) and Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) formed the break of the day after 30km, building a maximum lead just shy of five minutes before the sprinters’ teams set about narrowing the gap.
The two escapees were caught on the category 4 climb of the Côte de Lhuis with 30km remaining, by which point the roads had been rendered treacherous by steady rain. The combination of road furniture and damp tarmac made for a hazardous run-in, with a number of nervous crashes, mercifully without serious consequence.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) retains the yellow jersey after finishing safely in the peloton, though the Slovenian narrowly avoided coming down in a crash at a traffic island with a little under 60km to go. Pogačar remains 45 seconds clear of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) in the overall standings, with Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) still third at 50 seconds.
More to come …
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