00:01On to stage 5 of the Tour of Verne-Rhône-Alpes
00:03and it's the last chance for the sprinters.
00:06On the three road stages so far, victory has gone to the breakaway.
00:09On paper, today looks a little easier to control than yesterday
00:13when Juan Bernard and the bunch missed out by four seconds.
00:17Honestly, with a longer flat stretch in the end,
00:19I think it's a bigger chance that it's controllable,
00:22but still racing with the same peloton
00:24and in a tough race like this one,
00:29there's always a bit of a lack for sprinting teams,
00:32so it will be again difficult to get the right group on the road.
00:37A flatter final perhaps,
00:39but there is actually more elevation gain than yesterday,
00:42two and a half thousand metres.
00:43Plenty of teams will still try their luck at the start,
00:46while others have options for the breakaway
00:48and their potential sprints.
00:51It's another hard day for the sprinters to control,
00:54so we'll see.
00:56Either way, I'm happy if I can go on to a break
00:58or if it's a bunch,
00:59I will look for opportunities where I can,
01:02and I feel some of the best shape I've ever felt,
01:06so we'll give it a go.
01:09For an attacking team like Total Energies,
01:11it's always important to be up at the front,
01:13even if local lad Matteo Verche admits
01:16that this one could well be for the sprinters.
01:19I'm at home today,
01:21and it's always nice to ride on your training roads.
01:24I'm a bit tired after yesterday,
01:26and I don't think the sprinters are going to get caught out today.
01:28We'll keep an eye open at the start,
01:30because it's hard with quite a lot of climbing,
01:32but the final should enable the peloton to catch up.
01:35If there is a breakaway,
01:37we'll make sure that we've got somebody in there,
01:39but otherwise we'll maybe try to recover for tomorrow.
01:44Almost 200km on the menu today
01:46between Saint-Chamon and the Parc des Oiseaux in Villers-les-Dommes.
01:49Officially there are only two small climbs at the start,
01:52but it's up and down until the intermediate sprint,
01:55and then flat until the finish.
01:56The GC riders will no doubt take a back seat
01:59before an intense weekend of climbing in the Alps.
02:07Six men in the breakaway today,
02:09all of them at least 15 minutes off the pace overall.
02:12Felix Engelhardt of Jayco Alula,
02:15Yulun Areola Bengoa of Caja Rural.
02:18Total Energies did indeed have a man up there in Thibaut Gernalek,
02:22while Alpersin Premiertek had their former Tour de France stage winner Hugo Uhl.
02:26Picnic Postonel sent Robert Dant,
02:28and Sudar Quickstep were represented by Pepijn Reinderink.
02:32Areola Bengoa first over the line at the intermediate sprint
02:36as the riders reach the flat second half of the stage.
02:38The gap never exceeding three minutes,
02:41with several teams pacing the peloton.
02:43Not an easy day this for the British champion Sam Watson
02:46after his crash yesterday.
02:47It would no doubt be up to his team-mate Dorian Goodon,
02:50the French champion,
02:51to assume sprinting duties for net company Ineos.
02:55Meanwhile, the race leader Alex Bourdin was just staying out of trouble.
02:58The Frenchman set to keep his yellow and blue jersey for a fifth day.
03:03The average speed just creeping above 41km an hour despite the lumpy starts,
03:08with the brakes advantage remaining steady at about a minute and a half.
03:11The peloton now being led by Kofidis, who were determined to set this one up for Brian Cockart.
03:18With 25km to go, the game of cat and mouse was nearing its end,
03:22with other teams like Bahrain Victorious for Phil Bauhaus contributing to the chase.
03:27The riders flying their way towards the Parc des Oiseaux,
03:30and the brake were all of a flutter as they felt the flock swarming behind them.
03:35For the first time in this race, it looks like we're going to have a bunch of sprints.
03:41Well, the breakaway's goose was finally cooked,
03:43with Wisma Lisebeik leading Wout van Aert into the final kilometre.
03:50Finn Fischer-Black is deciding to sprint.
03:54Michael Matthews is also there.
03:57The team of Lotto Intermarché have got a rider up there,
04:01in Lars Kraps is there, but also Vito Brett.
04:05Look at the team of Wisma.
04:07They're going to leave this a little bit late for Dorian Godon
04:10to swamp them on the left-hand side,
04:12and Godon moves up in perfect position with Michael Matthews.
04:17520 metres of racing to go, and moving up on the outside comes Ulig.
04:22Henri Ulig is there. Finn Fischer-Black is there.
04:25Brian Cockart has got daylight.
04:27Big move of Jayko Alula.
04:29They're going to go early with Michael Matthews.
04:32Trenton is there in the yellow, though.
04:34Big move of Matthews on the outside.
04:37Finn Fischer-Black kicks very, very early.
04:40Here goes Dorian Godon through the centre.
04:43Wout van Aert, Wout van Aert, Wout van Aert takes the win.
04:47What a stage by Wisma.
04:49Wout van Aert takes the stage.
04:55Wout van Aert struggled through the early days of this race,
04:58not helped by a recent training crash.
05:00Losing a lot of time on the first two days,
05:02and then getting dropped in the TTT.
05:04But today he hit back with his second win of the season,
05:07after that remarkable victory at Paris-Roubaix.
05:10Yeah, with the team I have around me,
05:12and they were chasing the whole day, the breakaway,
05:15I just had to try.
05:16And Bruno Armirei was impressively strong on the front
05:21until the last few kilometres.
05:23And the other boys did an amazing job to bring me to the line,
05:26so I have to thank them.
05:29And, yeah, really happy.
05:32Van Aert winning it pretty comfortably in the end
05:34from a devastated Hugo Hofstetter,
05:37with Phil Bauhaus, Vito Bratt,
05:39and Henri-Francois Renard-Aquin completing the top five.
05:45Bourdin finished safely in the peloton in 66th place,
05:48but remains top of the perch.
05:50However, the general classification will look very different
05:53by this time tomorrow.
05:58Nadav Reisberg came seventh on the stage
06:01to increase his lead in the green jersey standings.
06:03The NSN man is now 14 points clear of Renard-Hack-Out.
06:10Still no change at the top of the mountains classification
06:12with Clement Brazifonso in polka dots,
06:15but there will also be a shake-up there once we hit the Alps.
06:21Bourdin is also said to spend his last day
06:23at the top of the youth classification tomorrow,
06:25with the likes of Vaucolin, Onli, Ayuso, and Sexass ready to pounce.
06:31After a quiet few days,
06:32the GC battle resumes in earnest on stage six,
06:35with a summit finish on Cré-Volant.
06:37Join us for that on Friday, and thanks for watching.
