Contador had his team mates including Roche, seen here in third place, on the cobbles for much of the day, though the Irish man would crash after some very strong riding on the first sections of pavé.
Team leader of Nicolas Roche’s Tinkoff-Saxo squad, Alberto Contador may have lost a lot of time to yellow jersey Vincenzo Nibali yesterday, but the team has restated its confidence in him to pull off victory when the race reaches Paris in 2½ weeks.
While Nibali put up a masterful display to take 3rd place on yesterday’s stage 5 featuring the cobbled sections normally used in the one-day classic Paris-Roubaix and put a whopping 2:35 into Contador, the fact defending champion Chris Froome abandoned was by far the biggest news of the day.
The Briton riding for Team Sky crashed twice before the racing even hit the pavé.
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And with his wrist in pain and supported by a brace from the off after a crash on Tuesday, Froome could not continue after his second fall yesterday and climbed into the team car.
The race had been billed in recent months as a two-horse contest between the defending champion and Contador.
And while Nibali is showing the kind of form that may see him take the 2014 title, Contador will still be fancied to beat him against the watch and at some point to put time into him on the climbs.
Yesterday's stage was won by Lars Boom; the Belkin riding making it into the lead group and then striking for home alone.
Tinkoff-Saxo directeur sportif, Steven de Jongh said while Contador simply could not hold Nibali when what remained of the peloton disintegrated on the second tough section of cobbles, the Spaniard had not crashed at any point and was ready for the mountains to come.
“We’re five days into the race. Alberto is in peak shape and better than he was in Dauphine and we’re going to do some hard mountain stages," he said.
“So, we’re still absolutely confident but aware that there’s some hard work to be done in order to make it back to the top of the rankings.”
Contador suggested while Nibali’s positioning was perfect on the second set of cobbles and he could not close up to him when the race blew apart, he would rather have lost the time yesterday than crashed.
“The Tour has only closed its first of many chapters and my terrain is yet to come,” he said in reference to the high mountains that remain.
The team singled out Roche for praise for driving the field very hard as the final part of the stage featuring the cobbled sections began.
De Jongh said it was the pressure applied by the Irish man, Daniele Bennati and Michael Rogers that depleted the bunch to less than 30 riders as the early escape was hunted down.
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The trio rode on the front of the group through the first section of pavé with over 60km remaining. And while they continued to drive it back on the smooth road, there was a regrouping.
Lars Boom rode with great strength and skill, not to mention courage. He was the deserved winner on a epic day in the Tour that will live long on the memory.
On the next section of pavé, Nibali and his Astana team made their move, before finally mopping up those ahead with 27km remaining.
Behind, Contador and some of his team mates were chasing hard to limit their losses to Nibali.
Roche was among those in his team leader’s group through the third section of cobbles, clearly keen to stay beside the Spaniard so he would not be isolated in the last 30 minutes of racing.
But when Roche’s and Contador’s group hit the fourth section of stones with 25km remaining, Roche crashed as his front wheel slipped on the wet stones.
“I went head first and my bike went one way and I went another. I slid into the ditch at the side of the road and Astana's Andriy Grivko fell behind me and his bike landed on my head,” he writes in his Irish Independent diary today.
“Whatever way I fell on my hip and arm, I couldn't get up. Luckily, one of the team staff that we had positioned at the beginning, middle and end of each section, ran down the road and helped me out of the ditch.”
He said having hit his head it took him a while to gather himself and fix his front wheel that had come loose. He then rode to the finish in a group some 13 minutes down.
A post-race check revealed bruising and swelling to his back and hip as well as a lump on his right shoulder and some scrapes and cuts.
He said he was disappointed to have fallen, especially having ridden on the front for so long; adding he would have liked to have been there until the end to protect Contador.
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