Dan Martin survives finishing straight scare in Tour de France finale

Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) takes his first win of this year's Tour de France at the head of the peloton in the charge into Marseille

Gavin McLoughlin

Ireland’s Dan Martin nudged a couple of places higher on general classification on stage 5 of the Tour de France today, Wednesday.

He began the day in 19^th place overall but moves up to 17^th after his Garmin-Sharp teammates Christian Vande Velde and David Millar were delayed by a crash.

Martin was caught behind a separate crash that occurred in the final straight but was given the same time as stage winner Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step). The Irishman remains 17 seconds off a race lead still held by Simon Gerrans (Orica-Green Edge).

Nicolas Roche was positioned just ahead of that latter crash, but the Saxo-Tinkoff super-domestique remained upright and will start tomorrow in 9^th place, 9 seconds behind Gerrans.

Today the riders were asked to complete the second-longest stage of this Tour, a 229 kilometre run from Cagnes-sur-Mer to Marseille. Though there were four categorised hills along the way, pre-stage analysis focused on the uncategorised but not insignificant Col de la Gineste, which crested some 12 kilometres from the finish line. Opinion was split on whether the sprinters would be able to make it to the finish in the lead group.

The break of the day established itself two kilometres in, with Yukiya Arashiro, Kevin Reza (both Europcar), Romain Sicard (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil), Anthony Delaplace (Sojasun) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) permitted to ride up the road. These men quickly established a significant gap and with 50 kilometres covered their advantage stood at 12 minutes.

Back in the peloton, Orica-Green Edge, Argos-Shimano and Lotto-Belisol swapped pace-setting duties in the early part of the day and their combined efforts slowly chipped the escapees’ lead away.

Sicard and Delaplace were distanced by their breakaway companions with some 50 kilometres left as Mark Cavendish’s Omega Pharma-Quick Step teammates joined the chase behind. The large pile-up on a chaotic stage 1 meant the Manxman had thus far been denied the chance to take a sprint victory, and his legendary appetite for glory clearly needed satisfying.

But the 4 men left out front were riding strongly and as they passed under the 20 kilometre banner they still had a lead of over 2 minutes. There was a crash in the bunch shortly afterward but the pace up top did not relent.

Cavendish and the rest of the sprinters managed to make it over the final ramp and with the Manx Missile’s lieutenants driving the peloton towards the finish line, the remnants of the breakaway were soon gobbled up. Into the final straight and at last we got the sprint battle everyone wanted. Cavendish, André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol), Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) slugged it out, but Cavendish was easily the fastest and he crossed the line first to take his 24^th Tour de France stage win.

Tomorrow’s leg is from Aix-en-Provence to Montpellier and sees the riders tackle a largely flat 177 kilometre route. Expect a bunch finish and hope for the Irish duo to hold on to their positions.

@gavmcloughlin

Stage 5: Cagnes-sur-Mer to Marseille (229km)

1 Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) 5:31:51

2 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling)

3 Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling)

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