Mark Cavendish Sprints to Historic Stage 5 Victory on a Cool, Rainy Route at the 2024 Tour de France

While the first stages of the 2024 Tour de France were hot, sunny, and dry, Stage 5 proved to be a cloudy day with cool weather and intermittent rain on the 177.4 km route winding from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas.

Clement Russo (Groupama-FDJ) and Mattéo Vercher (Total Energies) set off early on a breakaway from the peloton, building up a three minute lead on the group. on the flat, sprinter-friendly stage.

On the intermediate sprint at Aoste in Saint-Denis, Russo crossed first and Vercher second, giving Russo 20 points and Vercher 17 points in the points classification, respectively. Following them, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) reached the sprint in third, holding off Sam Bennett (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) in fourth, and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) in fifth. This leaves Pedersen and Girmay in a tie with 94 points for the green jersey classification.

From there, it remained difficult for Russo and Vercher to hold off the pack, eventually getting caught 37 km from the finish on the brief ascent towards the Côte de Lhuis. The Côte de Lhuis is a 3 km, category 4 climb with an average gradient of 4.6% and maximum of 6.4%. It is at low altitude going from from 237 meter at the start, reaching to 383 meter at the summit. Clement Russo, for his effort, was voted Most Combative Rider on the day.

On the climb to the Côte de Lhuis, 35 km from the finish, Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), the points and King of the Mountains classifications leader, made a punchy move ahead of the peloton, taking the additional points for teaching the peak first.

Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan), the famed sprinter who had captured 34 overall stages in the Tour de France during his career, was supported by his Astana Qazaqstan teammates, looking to take a stage which favored his skill set of bunch sprint finishes following days in difficult weather with tight approaches to the finish.

The speed of the peloton picked up pace on the descent from the Côte de Lhuis, and Alexander Christoff (Uno-X Mobility) took a fall 27 km from the finish, while Christope Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) also slipping 25 km from the end. Christoff was able to quickly make up the minute time gap he lost, however, reaching the peloton once again at the 19 km mark from the line.

Conditions began to improve on the day in the final 15 km, making for a drier, slightly warmer arrival in Saint-Vulbas.

A relatively calm lead up to the finish soon gave way to a tight final two km. Cavendish's search for a historic stage win would prove successful, as the Manx Missile went off the front of the group in the final 400 meters, supported by his team lead out in the final km, and held off his competitors. After the stage, Mark Cavendish would hold the outright lead in Tour de France stage wins at 35, moving ahead of the great Eddy Merckx. Cavendish also becomes the second-oldest rider to win a stage of the Tour de France in the history of the race.

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) finished in second on the day, followed by Alexander Kristoff in third, having made his way back up towards the front after a crash not far from the finish. Arnaud de Lie (Lotto–Dstny) arrived in fourth and Fabio Jakobsen (dsm–firmenich PostNL) rounded out the top five.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) remains the leader in the overall classification after Stage 5. Biniam Girmay wears the green jersey in the points classification and Jonas Ambrahamsen the polka dot jersey as King of the Mountains. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal–Quick-Step) also remains the Best Young Rider thus far, and UAE Team Emirates holds top spot in the overall team classification.

On a gloomy day, it was all smiles for Mark Cavendish and his team, who celebrated a historic stage victory of an all-time great rider.

Stage 6 will begin in the city of Mâcon along the River Saône heading north to the city of Dijon on a flat route of 163.5 km.