Tour De France 2008: Stage Five - As It Happened

General classification after stage five

With the peloton finishing in one big ... em, clump and recording the same time (apart from the unfortunate Aurelion Passeron, who ran into a spectator and limped in looking very upset over four minutes behind everbody else), there's no change in the general classification and Gerolsteiner's Stefan Schumacher gets to keep the yellow jersey for one more day at least.

1. Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) 19hr 32min 33sec2. Kim Kirchen (Team Columbia) +12sec3. David Millar (Garmin Chipotle) +12sec4. Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) +21sec5. Fabian Cancellara ((CSC) +33sec6. Christian Vandevelde (Garmin Chipotle) +37sec7. George Hincapie (Team Columbia) +41sec8. Thomas Lovkvist (Team Columbia) +47sec9. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) +58sec10. José Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse D'Epargne) +1min 01sec98. Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia) +05min 58sec

Stage result

1. Mark Cavendish (GBR) THR2. Oscar Freire (ESP) RAB3. Erik Zabel (GER) MRM4. Thor Hushovd (NOR) C.A5. Baden Cooke (AUS) BAR

Post-stage interview: Cavendish reveals that he was forced to make his move a bit earlier than he'd have liked, but won it anyway because he's been working on his fitness. He adds that this is the biggest achievement of his career to date and that he'd have been upset if he'd had to go home without winning at least one stage of the Tour. Of course, with the indoor cycling at the Olympics on the horizon, the world is very much this young man's oyster. Good luck to him.

4.12pm: After passing Vogondy in the last 200m, my close personal friend Mark Cavendish, from the Isle of Man, takes his first ever Tour de France stage win by a bicycle length from Erik Zabel and Oscar Freire. Once he's up on that podium, I don't expect him to thank me for all I've done for him in the past, but it would be nice. Never mind, in 20 years time when he's pulling wheelies for spare change in Herne Hill Velodrome, he'll be back on the phone looking for more publicity. I'll still be here for him.

4.10pm: Just under a kilometer to go and the train swallows up two of the breakaway riders, but Nicolas Vogondy has surged clear and looks like he might not be caught.

4.06pm: Five kilometers to go and the gap between the three fugitives and the peloton is 21 seconds. A middle-aged woman on the left-hand side of the road comes a cropper after being run into by Aurelion Passeron from the Saunier Duval team. He's able to continue but she looks quite badly hurt.

4.01pm: The three-strong breakaway of Frenchmen zip under the 10km-To-Go kite. Just 33 seconds later, the peloton do the same. On a stationary bike, I can do 10km in about 18 minutes while reading a book or newspaper. Let's see how long it takes these ladies ...

4pm: "I've been watching Eurosport," writes Simon Jones. "They started banging on about Germans and water sponsorship. Enough of this, I thought, I'm off to the Guardian website for cleat and sprocket fun. Pah!"

3.55pm: "How can you say that your fact about Gerolsteiner is uninteresting?" wonders Rob Rayburn. "If anything it is a lead up to a good line such as, 'not since 1940 has a German team with one Austrian dominated the French countryside in such a way'. Or are you on special orders from Cybil Fawlty to not mention the war?"

3.50pm: Just 20km to go and the gap between the three-man breakaway and the peloton is 1min 17sec. The stage is going to finish in a sprint and the Eurosport team are making their predictions. Sean Kelly has gone for Robbie McEwan, as has David Harmon, who reckons the Australian will hitch a lift on the Quick Step or Team Columbia trains and mug Gert Steegmans or Mark Cavendish at the death. Emma Davies-Jones has opted for Mark Cavendish, while Eurosport staistician Carlton Kirby has plumped for Rabobank's Oscar Freire.

3.45pm: "Vaguely related to yesterday's discussion about David Duffield," writes Kevin Cassingham. "He talked in Cycling Weekly recently about how Sean Kelly would tell him amazing anecdotes while they were off mike, but as soon as they were back on it would be impossible to get anything particularly interesting out of him."

I can see how that might happen. He may be a legend, but on Eurosport Kelly just told a story of how a couple of cows once broke out of a field and ran amok in the peloton, but somehow managed to make it sound boring. To be fair to him, I think a lot of it may have to do with his Tipperary accent, as I'm assured by folk who know him that he's a gentleman.

3.35pm: Led by the riders from Gerolsteiner, who are anxious to keep Stefan Schumacher in yellow for at least one more day before things start going uphill, the peloton is whirring along at a fairly leisurely clip, slowly reeling in the three-man breakaway 1min 28sec further up the road to Châteauroux. The Gerolsteiner team are on the lookout for a sponsor, now that the mineral water company that's backed them for years has decided to pull the plug at the end of this season. Uninteresting fact: the entire Gerolsteiner team is made up of Germans, apart from one, the Austrian Bernhard Kohl.

3.30pm: "Thought I'd give you an update on how the Korean meal went on Monday night," wrote Shaun at lunchtime. "I wasn't with you yesterday as I was following the action on the official tour site. In the individual time trial, all you need are the facts. I'd like to thank Brian for his Bim Bam Bab suggestion, a definite winner. Although his cold chilli pickles weren't quite 'strangely addictive', as he described, just 'strange'. And the Korean bottled lager Hite was light and crisp - anyone know of any suppliers in Manchester? No dogs where harmed in the writing of this review."

3.25pm: "I hope Shaun from soggy Manchester [the bloke who was about to break his Korean cuisine duck from Monday's rolling report] liked his Korean meal," writes Antonia Mochan. "If I'd been reading during Stage 3 I could have given him many suggestions, as it's my favorite type of food. Was probably reading a food website at the time." It's funny you should mention that, Antonia, because I got this email earlier today and had forgotten about it until just now ...

3.25pm: "With the credit crunch in action and Sarkozy less than popular at home, I thought there would be a few more protests in this year's Tour," writes Sheldon Ferguson. "Maybe Harry Morrison could make a start; it would brighten up a dull flat stage."

3.15pm: The peloton snakes through a regional national park, about 40km from the finish at Chateauroux. Having fallen twice earlier today, Alejandre Valvarde, has been consulting with both the doctor and his team manager Jose Jaimerena. The Spaniard is showing no obvious signs of serious injury, but something is clearly bothering him.

3.10pm: "Why are you covering this event when you appear to have no knowledge of cycling and neither any interest in or sympathy with the sport?" writes Harry Morrison, who no doubt expects better from the Guardian and probably can't believe that I get paid for this rubbish. We danced this foxtrot on Monday, Harry. If I could steer your gaze in the direction of the 2.20pm and 2.30pm entries of this report, you'll find all the answers there.

3.07pm: "One of the points made by over-by-over legend Gary Naylor (2.40pm) is that he 'supports the right of Britain's team managers not to select a cheat to represent the country after the ban is served'," writes Andy Lewis. "That's a fair point of view, but what makes the Olympics so different from all other championships? Carl Myerscough, for example, has represented Britain numerous times since the end of his ban - why is it any worse that he does so at the Olympics?"

3.05pm: There's 51.7km to go, the sun is shining on the road to Chateauroux and the gap between the formulaic all-French echappée-fleuve and the peloton is down to 2min 14sec.

2.55pm: This being a long, flat stage, it's time to trot out the hoary old staple about the competition within a competition that takes place each year on the Tour: the prestigious bidon-carrying contest among the domestiques, whose job it is - among other duties - to fetch bidons (plastic bottles full of water to you) for their leaders from the team cars. Apparently the record for greatest number of bidons carried through the peloton by one domestique at a time (on the bike, in his shirt pocket, inside his shirt etc) is 17. To put that feat in perspective, I think most of us would struggle to do that if we were allowed swap the bicycle for a tray.

2.50pm: Interesting fact: Fabian Cancellara is wearing No13 in the Tour this year, and has it fastened to his back upside-down in a bid to ward off the bad luck that inevitably comes with being lumbered with the number. This preventative measure didin't do him much good yesterday, when he was expected to win the time trial and didn't. My parents have spent most of their married life in a house with the No13 on the door. I see no evidence that they've suffered misfortune from not having the number upsid ... oh.

2.46pm: The gap between the formulaic all-French echappée-fleuve and the peloton is down to 2min 58sec.

2.45pm: "By the way," adds Roger. "Aren't long flat stages with a formulaic all-French echappée-fleuve that gets caught late on dull as [rude word deleted - BG.], though? Only worth commentating on the last 20 minutes, really."

2.42pm: "I think you'll also find that bans that are long enough to deprive people permanently of their livelihood are rather likely to get struck down in the courts, as well," adds Roger Hughes, making me yearn for the days when these minute-by-minute riffs used to be on more interesting topics such as the merits of Ned's Atomic Dustbin over the Soup Dragons, or the myriad pitfalls involved in the wooing of women. "Restraint of trade, proportionality (under the ECHR etc), there's plenty there. Which is why two years for a culpable first offense (unless you're a footballer) has stuck."

2.40pm: Everybody can relax because resident philosopher Gary Naylor is here with the definitive verdict on drugs in sport. "I support the two-year ban and I support the right of Britain's team managers not to select a cheat to represent the country after the ban is served," he says, not unreasonably. "If Chambers isn't wanted, then fine. What I would also do is assess all the financial support and sponsorship accrued in the two years prior to the doping offense and then fine the cheat that amount, with the money going to support anti-doping initiatives. That might make the cheats think twice about doing it in the first place."

2.35pm: Pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal etc. The gap between the three-man breakaway and the peloton is falling quickly and is now down to 3min 24sec with 70km to go.

2.30pm: Having regaled us with your stories of being a left back in football as a child, could you tell us of your sprocket exploits?" writes Kieren Burns. "Did you once win a race around Emmet Square or were you once first to Birr Castle?"

Neither, Kieren, although I did once fall off my bike on the way home from the Wilmer Tennis Club on Christmas Eve, bang my head off the kerb and end up getting six stitches in my left eyebrow. Here's some video footage, if anyone wants to relive my pain.

2.25pm: It's worth noting that this stage is almost certain to end in a sprint finish, which would give my close personal friend Mark Cavendish a sporting chance of winning his first ever stage win on the Tour. He's not my close personal friend, by the way. Even though I made him the man he is today, I haven't heard from him once since we did that interview.

2.20pm: "Why is nobody talking up Kim Kirchen?" wonders Matthew West. "He's a climber - he won a horror stage at last year's tour and his supposed weakness is time-trialling. You would think then that his second place in yesterday's TT - taking time out of Evans, Valverde and Menchov prior to the mountains - would make him a contender. It's discrimination against Luxembourgishers I tells you." That's the nearest thing you're going to get to expert analysis in this report ... until I scribble down some pearl of wisdom from Sean Kelly or Emma Davies-Jones on Eurosport and pass it off as my own.

2.15pm: The Gerolsteiner team of race leader Stefan Schumacher continue to do all the donkey-work, dragging the peloton along in a bid to catch up with the three-man breakaway 5min 12sec up the road with 82km to go.

2.05pm: Well Damian, I find it very difficult to give a monkley's about the Olympics or the Tour de France these days, largely because, like a lot of people, I presume either correctly or incorrectly that anybody who does well in either is juiced up to the eyeballs. No doubt David Millar, Dwain Chambers and their drug-cheating ilk are largely responsible for my cynicism, but I still think it's harsh to deny somebody the opportunity to make a living doing what they're very good at just because they've made one mistake, so I'd be inclined to give everyone a second chance. Then again, that kind of wishy-washy pinko-liberal attitude isn't going to do much to rid sport of performance-enhancing drugs.

While I'm on my soapbox, I might as well add that I think the witch-hunt that Dwain Chambers is being subjected to is a disgrace. Nobody cared a whit when shot-putter and drugs cheat Carl Myerscough was selected to represent Great Britain, which would suggest that Chambers is getting flamed for being good at a more glamorous event.

Finally, I have a lot of sympathy for cyclists who feel the need to take drugs. The Tour is so punishing and tortuous that you can understand why anyone would yield to the temptation of taking something to ease the pain, particularly when they know everyone they're up against is taking medication too.

2pm: "Given the amount of positive coverage in today's press re: Millar's performance yesterday I couldn't help thinking that maybe Dwain Chambers could do with his PR people," writes Damian Barrett. "Or at least gone down the same 'anti-doping' stance as his current court case against the BOA doesn't seem to be winning him many friends. What are your views re 2 year suspensions v lifetime bans. While I sympathise with people who are genuinely sorry for past mistakes, perhaps harsher punishments for doping offenders, with ultimate penalties, such as lifetime bans from the Tour or denying them any chance of competing at Olympics are needed to removing the temptation for cheating."

For your information: There are no climbs on today's stage, but there are three intermediate sprints, in Argenton-les-Vallees (at 33.5km), Richelieu (at 98.5km) and in Le Grand-Pressigny (at 152km). Needless to say, the three riders in the breakaway have divvied them up between them. Result from first sprint: 1. Lilian Jegou (FDJ) 6pts, 2. Nicolas Vogondy (AGR) 4pts, 3. Florent Brard (COF) 2pts.Result from second sprint: 1. Florent Brard (COF) 6pts, 2. Nicolas Vogondy (AGR) 4pts, 3. Lilian Jegou (FDJ) 2pt.

More crash news: GCE rider Alejandro Valverde, one of the bigger names in the Tour, has crashed not once, but twice, today. After receving treatment (and a good long tow) from the medical wagon, he seems to be OK, although he has suffered injuries to both knees and a forearm. Ouch!

Crash news: Barloworld's Juan Soler, who was riding with two badly injured wrists, has pulled out of the Tour. He fell before the start this morning and set off anyway, only to succumb to his injuries and abandon a few kilometers down the road, leaving 177 riders in the race.

1.40pm: Apologies, I'm late again, although today it's down to technical difficulties rather than a cavalier disregard for punctuality on my part. Today's is the longest stage of this year's Tour: 232km of largely flat road between Cholet and Châteauroux. After 11km, a three-man breakaway consisting of three Frenchmen, Nicolas Vogondy (Agritubel), Florent Braard (Cofidis) and Lilian Jegou (FDJ), sprinted clear and they're currently 5min 51sec clear with 106km to go. Their lead was as high as eight minutes, but at that point the Gerolsteiner team of race leader Stefan Schumacher decided enough was enough, took over at the head of the peloton and set about reeling them in.

Some reading material you might like

Guardian bike-racing boffin William Fotheringham is whizzing around France chronicling this year's Tour. You can read his report on yesterday's time trial here. What's more, you can catch up on all the news and comment from this year's Tour in our special report. Finally, to find out anything you need to know about this year's route or Tour team tactics, why not explore the myriad delights of our interactive report.

General classification after stage four

1. Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) 14hr 04min 41sec2. Kim Kirchen (Team Columbia) +12sec3. David Millar (Garmin Chipotle) +12sec4. Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) +21sec5. Fabian Cancellara ((CSC) +33sec6. Christian Vandevelde (Garmin Chipotle) +37sec7. George Hincapie (Team Columbia) +41sec8. Thomas Lovkvist (Team Columbia) +47sec9. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) +58sec10. José Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse D'Epargne) +1min 01sec98. Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia) +05min 58sec