Tour de France stage 5 live - into the mountains
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It's been widely noted that Pogačar was the winner in Laruns three years ago, also on a stage starting in Pau, also with the Col de Marie Blanque as the last climb. The million dollar question being - will history repeat itself today?
Here's a shot of Tadej Pogačar heading towards the start today (Image credit: Getty)
Stage 5 has over 3,600 metres of vertical climbing, the fifth highest total in the entire race, so this promises to be a real baptism of mountain fire.
For the remainder of the field, after two very hilly stages and then two bunch sprint stages, stage 5 is a rather different kettle of fish as the Tour heads into the Pyrenees for what is a very tough early test of climbing form and potentially a major GC battle.
Two confirmed non-starters today: Luis León Sánchez (Astana Qazaqstan) and Jacopo Guarnieri (Lotto-Dstny). Both riders broke their collarbones in crashes in Tuesday's tumultuous bunch sprint finish, and the Italian also broke one of his ribs.
The rollout for stage 5 is due to begin at 1305 CET and after a long-ish neutralised section, actual racing begins at 1325 CET.
Source: Cyclingnews
