The 5th stage of the Tour de France 2016 was held on July 6, 2016. It was the first stage of the 2016 tour with more demanding mountain crossings and the racing drivers climbed to heights of over 1000 meters for the first time. This stage led over 216 kilometers from Limoges to Le Lioran . There was one mountain classification in the 4th category, three mountain ratings in the 3rd and two in the 2nd category as well as an intermediate sprint in Mauriac after 144.5 kilometers.
A first group of leaders could not break away, so that the peloton rode the category 4 mountain classification on the Côte de Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat. This gave the Belgian Jasper Stuyven (TFS), riding in the dotted jersey, the opportunity to achieve another mountain point.
At the initiative of Andrij Hrywko (AST) a nine-man breakaway group formed about twenty kilometers after the start, which was able to pull away and quickly gained a lead. Were represented Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Thomas De Gendt (LTS), Andriy Hrivko (AST), Rafał Majka (TNK), Bartosz Huzarski (BOA), Cyril Gautier (ALM), Serge Pauwels (DDD), Romain Sicard (DEN ) and Florian Vachon (FVC). However, this group did not stay together for long, Van Avermaet, Hrywko and De Gendt attacked and the three of them took the lead. The peloton meanwhile gave the leaders an unusually large lead, at times they were almost 14 minutes ahead, the remaining six pursuers were about two to three minutes behind the leaders. Finally, the Sky team took over the leadership in the field.
While Thomas De Gendt secured the two mountain classifications in the third category, Van Avermaet won the intermediate sprint ahead of Hrywko. Even in the peloton, the remaining six points were sprinted, won by Bryan Coquard (DEN), followed by Marcel Kittel (EQS) and Mark Cavendish (DDD).
On the ascent to the Col de Neronne , the Movistar team began to take part in the follow-up work. At first the pure sprinters dropped out of the field, overall leader Peter Sagan (TNK) was able to stay ahead. On the ascent to Pas de Peyrol ( Puy Mary ), the Movistar drivers around Nairo Quintana increased the pace significantly, so that on the one hand the large lead of the outliers quickly melted and on the other hand numerous drivers were left behind. In addition to Sagan, Vincenzo Nibali (AST) was surprisingly unable to keep up with the pace and fell far behind. Also Rui Costa (LAM), Daniel Navarro (COF), Jarlinson Pantano (IAM), Mikel Landa (SKY), Brice Feillu (FVC) and Tom Dumoulin (TGA) lost contact.
Hrywko then fell back from the top three group. The Belgian doubles continued their escape alone. First on the fourth mountain classification of the day was Thomas De Gendt again ahead of Greg Van Avermaet. Rafał Majka and Bartosz Huzarski broke away from the chasing group, the remaining four drivers were gradually overtaken.
On the penultimate climb, Greg Van Avermaet attacked and pulled away from De Gendt. He won the mountain classification in front of his compatriot, Hrywko and Majka. There were no attacks in the peloton, which had been decimated to the favorites and a few helpers. Romain Bardet (ALM) only attempted an attack on the last mountain classification, but this was neutralized by Movistar and Sky. Alberto Contador (TNK) fell back in the last few meters at the Col de Font de Cère and was another time deficit.
At the top, Greg Van Avermaet was able to celebrate his second Tour stage win after 2015. At the same time he took over the yellow jersey from the relapsed Peter Sagan. Thomas De Gendt crossed the finish line about 2:30 minutes behind, Majka arrived just before the group of favorites, which was led by Joaquim Rodríguez (KAT), five minutes behind Van Avermaet. Vincenzo Nibali, who won the Giro in May, lost over eight minutes to the other favorites.
With his win, Van Avermaet achieved a five-minute lead over the runner-up Julian Alaphilippe , who was able to defend the white jersey . The lead in the mountain classification was taken by Thomas De Gendt, who was also named the most combative driver of the stage. In the points classification, Peter Sagan was just ahead of Mark Cavendish. The fastest team after the stage was the BMC Racing Team around Van Avermaet.
Scoring
Intermediate sprint in Mauriac after 144.5 km at 721 m
