The fifth stage of the Tour de France 2022 took place on the cobblestones. A total of 19.4 kilometres of pavé had to be completed. TOUR has put together some pictures of the stage.
Click through: The most spectacular pictures of the 5th stage of the Tour de France via Pave
The pavé at the Tour de France turned out to be a stumbling block for many a rider. Peter Sagan was dropped early on after a crash, his assistant Daniel Oss had to give up with a fractured cervical vertebrae. Last year's fourth-placed Ben O'Connor lost a lot of time, Wout van Aert crashed before the first cobbled section and Mathieu van der Poel was also unable to intervene in the battle for the stage win.
Simon Clarke from the Israel-Premier Tech team took the day's victory ahead of Taco van der Hoorn in a dramatic sprint to the finish from a breakaway group. The yellow jersey of the Tour de France remains on the shoulders of van Aert, who crossed the finish line with a chasing group.
The last time cobbled sections were included in the Tour de France route was in 2018. Back then, John Degenkolb snatched his only stage win at the Tour de France to date from a group of three in a sprint against Greg Van Avermaet and Yves Lampaert.
Over 3000 kilometres to ride in the Tour de France 2022
It is not yet clear whether there will be pavé sectors at the Tour de France again in the coming years. This year, the majority of the route, which is mainly on normal tarmac roads, still lies ahead of the riders. The total distance from Copenhagen to Paris is 3349.8 kilometres. After the start in Denmark and a rest day, the tour continued in France. The Alps and the Pyrenees still await the peloton. There will also be a second individual time trial on the 20th stage, where the favourites will have to prove their skills in the battle against the clock.
The first time trial at the Tour de France 2022 Belgian Yves Lampaert won the first stage in Copenhagen from Team Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl ahead of Wout van Aert, who took the yellow jersey from Lampaert on stage 2 thanks to a time bonus he secured for second place on the stage.
Who will win in Paris?
The final stage of the Tour de France traditionally ends on the Champs-Elysees in Paris in 2022. The last German victory on the magnificent boulevard in the metropolis on the Seine was in 2016 by Andre Greipel, who ended his career after last season.
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The German sprinter had already won the final stage of the Tour of France a year earlier in 2015, after another German, Marcel Kittel, had previously won the final stage of the Tour de France in Paris in 2014 and 2013.
