(Reuters) German Andre Greipel was again far too strong for the opposition as he claimed his second win in this year’s Tour de France with an impressive sprint in the fifth stage on Wednesday.
REUTERS/ERIC GAILLARD
German Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick Step) retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey.
Lotto Soudal rider Greipel, who holds the green jersey for the points classification, started his effort late in the final straight but easily went past Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quick Step).
Cavendish, looking far from his past best as he sought to add to his 25 Tour stage wins, again came up short and finished third after taking fourth in Sunday’s second stage won by Greipel.
Slovakian Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) finished a strong second at the end of a 189.5-km ride marred by seven crashes on the slippery roads of northern France.”Two victories, it’s great,” said Greipel.
“The whole team worked well for this sprint. It was the first bunch sprint, it’s interesting… with 300 metres I thought I was boxed in but I saw an opening and went for it.”
France’s Nacer Bouhanni was an early casualty of the pile-ups, abandoning the race when he was caught up in a crash that involved four of his team mates.
The sprint ace, who was looking to win a stage and possibly aiming for the green jersey, was taken to a hospital for checks. His Cofidis team manager said the 24-year-old had not suffered any fracture.
WIth 77 km left, the BMC and Sky teams at the front accelerated and split the peloton as crosswinds made for yet another nervous day on the Tour.
No big guns were trapped behind and the favourites avoided trouble.
Martin still leads Briton Chris Froome (Sky) by 12 seconds overall and American Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) by 25. Spain’s Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo) remains eighth, 48 seconds behind, while defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) is 13th and 1:50 adrift. Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar) lies 17th, 2:08 off the pace.
Greipel leads the points classification with 151 points, 32 ahead of Sagan.
The ride took the peloton through several World War I battlefields on a day of remembrance on the Tour.
Early in the morning, a metal blue cornflower was inaugurated at Mont St Eloi, where 1909 Tour winner Francois Faber died 100 years ago., (Reuters) – Joe Root plundered a superb century to defy Australia as England recovered from a poor start to post 343 for seven on the first day of the first Ashes test yesterday.
A fluent and counter-attacking Root, dropped before he had scored, hit 134 with Gary Ballance (61) and Ben Stokes (52) making solid contributions.
Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc took three wickets apiece for Australia with the late dismissal of Jos Buttler leaving the game evenly poised.
England were wobbling at 43-3 when Root came to the crease on an overcast and chilly morning in the Welsh capital but he made the most of a second-ball reprieve after he was spilled by wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.
England did not lose a wicket in the afternoon session as Root prospered and Ballance scratched around to share a fourth wicket stand of 153 at Sophia Gardens, where England dug in for a memorable draw in 2009 — the first Ashes test at the ground.
Ballance was trapped in front by Hazlewood and Starc ended Root’s 166-ball stay when he induced an edge to first slip.
Ben Stokes continued the assault before Starc bowled him, the paceman celebrating with a finger-to-lips send off for the departing batsman.
Moeen Ali (26) and Stuart Broad (0) will resume today.
Root was full of aggressive intent, scoring quickly — mixing imperious cover drives and stylish cuts — seizing on anything short, wide or overpitched to compile his seventh test century and second against Australia.
“It’s nice to make a big score so early in the series but the most important thing is we get wins. We want to win back the Ashes,” Root told reporters. “It’s alright having one good day, but we have to back that up now, not just in the rest of this game but throughout the series as well. It’s going to be a really interesting series.”
Having lost the toss on a pitch, Australia made the most of a swinging ball as Adam Lyth (six) fell in the second over, caught low down by David Warner at gully off Hazlewood.
Off spinner Nathan Lyon, introduced in the 10th over, sent back captain Alastair Cook (20) who tried to cut him away and edged behind to Haddin. When Ian Bell’s poor form continued as he was trapped leg before for one by a Starc inswinger, England were reeling.
Starc and the accurate Hazlewood caused England the most problems but there was no success for Mitchell Johnson, England’s nemesis from the last Ashes when he took 37 wickets with express pace.
He got no help yesterday on a sluggish pitch with his 20 wicketless overs costing 87 runs.
