Classics specialists set to thrive on stage five of the Tour de France

Stage five
Eurosport 1/ITV4, 11.20am Wednesday

Fernando Gaviria confirmed himself as the premier sprinter at this year’s Tour de France with a second stage victory on stage four on Tuesday.

Colombia’s Gaviria, in his first Tour appearance, saw off Peter Sagan and Andre Greipel in a three-way photo finish in Sarzeau with the rest of the fast men trailing in their wake.

There was little change to the general classification as Geraint Thomas remained the best placed of the genuine yellow-jersey contenders in third position, three seconds adrift of leader Greg van Avermaet.

After four days on the flat, the route begins to get lumpier on stage five with a classics-style 204.5km route from Lorient to Quimper.

The five categorised climbs on the route through Brittany all come in the final half of the stage and while they are not particularly long, all are punchy ascents which should prove too much for the pure sprinters to contend with.

The route looks perfect for one-day specialists and a potential showdown between race leader Van Avermaet and world champion Sagan.

Belgian Van Avermaet had Sagan’s number in 2017 with a number of classics victories including Paris-Roubaix but the Solvakian world champion turned the tables this spring, finishing higher than the Belgian more often than not at the most prestigious one-day races.

Sagan has already shown that he is on top form at this year’s Tour with victory on stage two as well as second-placed finishes behind Gaviria on stages one and four. He gets the nod as the main selection but Van Avermaet certainly has a much better chance than bet365’s quotes of 16-1 suggest.

If there is to be another rider who gets in on the act it is likely to be last year’s points classification winner Michael Matthews.

The Aussie won two stages with a similar profile at the 2017 Tour en route to winning the green jersey and while he has yet to seriously figure in the shake-up at the business end so far, he has said the next two days are his aim before helping Tom Dumoulin in the mountains.

Recommendation
P Sagan
3pts 7-4 bet365
G van Avermaet
1pt e-w 12-1 bet365

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